In this article, the author laments that too much of what goes on in schools are shaped by politicians who are more interested in winning elections than in winning good futures for children, who know that being tough but simplistic about "getting results" wins votes, whether or not it fosters learning. As such, the author calls on school leaders…

Describes one South Carolina school district's approach to staff development for classified staff (e.g., nurses, custodians, bus drivers, food service workers, maintenance personnel, substitutes, and secretaries). Program planning, implementation, and evaluation involved collaborative and comprehensive efforts. This paper makes seven…

Staff developers for classified staff must unite and network to share resources and more effectively fulfill their duties. This paper examines several reasons why it is important to offer staff development to classified employees and discusses general trends in classified staff development. The paper concludes with seven recommendations for…

Findings are reported from a series of studies of staff development coordinators, principals, and superintendents carried out in Georgia. The staff development needs of the three groups are identified, ranked, and compared. Implications for staff developers are proposed. (IAH)

A staff development process, the Basic Skills Articulation Plan (BSAP), has been used by the Franklin County (Ohio) Department of Education to meet state-mandated educational goals. BSAP and its results are summarized. (MT)

The mentoring relationship is examined in terms of the stages in the process and the benefits to mentor, protege, and the organization. A four-step procedure to effectively foster mentoring in schools is presented. (MT)

A principal describes her role in fostering an atmosphere of collegiality and experimentation so that teachers could become their own staff developers. (Author/MT)

The staff development process a school district used to develop a writing-across-the-curriculum program is described. The process's six essential elements involve exploring, shaping, implementing, revising, sharing, and publishing, could be applied to other staff development efforts. (CB)

Describes an urban school district's focus on leadership development for support staff. The project identified and trained 500 front-line supervisors representing office managers, food service managers, head custodians, and district maintenance supervisors. This paper explains program design, objectives, participants, management support, content,…

A study was made of 17 successful "professional assisters" to examine patterns of successful assistance and to convert that understanding of effective behaviors into training materials to support staff development activities. Training modules were created to address skill clusters for which practical materials were needed. (MT)

A Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum project is used to demonstrate the kinds of support a staff developer needs from the school district. These include financial support for various expenses as well as support in the form of reinforcement and idea sharing. (Author/MT)

This article describes how principals can learn about their teachers' developmental needs and use this information for creative staff development. Many examples are given. (MT)

Describes the use of containers (formal structures, organizers, or frameworks into which a presenter can drop content) to save time when planning a presentation. To use containers, presenters must know the type of presentation outcome and allocated time, have information about the audience, and have information about various presentation…

Today's staff developers juggle eight roles as their work has broadened to incorporate more responsibility and accountability for continuous changes in educational programs. The eight often-overlapping roles are trainer/designer, coach, resource provider, program manager, consultant, task facilitator, process facilitator, and catalyst for change.…

Surveys are a commonly-used tool for measuring satisfaction with staff-development workshops. The four main sources of error and bias in most surveys are sampling slips, non-response nonsense, time-slice traps, and questionable questions. The paper discusses several typical survey problems and presents tips for making surveys into effective tools.…