The commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is a form of childhood sexual abuse involving the sexual exploitation of youth for economic gain. School-based CSEC prevention efforts have increased in recent years. While these efforts represent important progress in school-based efforts to prevent CSEC, the literature indicates that they…

As part of the Redesign Professional Development (PD) Community of Practice, which includes 22 school systems across the country, Pittsburgh Public Schools is working to build greater alignment and coherence into its professional learning efforts. That means creating a district-wide professional learning system that helps the schools grow…

Professional development is vital to the success of afterschool programs. Effective professional development enhances afterschool program quality by facilitating staff performance and knowledge; in addition, professional development is vital for improving student learning outcomes (Bouffard & Little, 2004; Hall & Surr, 2005; Joyce &…

Students with low-incidence disabilities frequently receive less than optimal psychoeducational services because the specialized tests and instructional materials required to meet their idiosyncratic needs often are unavailable due to budget constraints, inadequate training of school personnel, and the difficulty school personnel have keeping…

With the current emphasis on Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for teachers, it is important to ensure that every member of staff has the opportunity to develop their skills, knowledge and understanding as outlined in the professional and occupational standards for the school workforce. As your practical guide to developing your staff,…

Workplace wellness initiatives are currently unreflective of the multidimensional and holistic nature of the wellness construct. There exists an opportunity for promoters of health to move toward models of workplace wellness promotion that more fully appreciate the interconnected nature of health dimensions and promote them even-handedly. The Blue…

Advances in medicine have increased the survival rates of children with complex medical conditions, including those who are dependent on technology such as ventilators and tracheostomies. The process of integrating children dependent on medical technology into public schools requires the collaboration of a multidisciplinary team to ensure that…

Discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of various approaches to needs assessment is followed by a description of the five phases of the flexible composite needs assessment approach, START (Systematic Technique for Assessing Resources and Training/Development) for developing training programs within various types of organizations. (EAO)

The advantages of using a computer to analyze needs assessment data for continuing education are (1) it allows the expression of organizational needs, (2) all learners are able to declare their own needs, and (3) it provides rapid access to large amounts of information. (SK)

Describes the New Augusta Public Academy South Elementary School (Indianapolis, Indiana) efforts to integrate technology across the curriculum, highlighting the technology team analysis of staff learning needs, development of a staff training model, and testing of the model. (PEN)

As one means of serving their clients, Ginn and Co. made a commitment in the early 1980's to provide inservice workshops for teachers that more closely related to customer needs. The vehicle for assessing these needs and ultimately designing appropriate inservice activities is Stages of Concern about the Innovation (SoC), one of the diagnostic…

A model for staff development called "Staff Development/Organizational Development" (Wood/Thompson/Russell, 1981) describes a process for designing inservice that is systematic and comprehensive. The model was developed through an analysis and synthesis of the literature and research related to staff development. This paper briefly describes the…

To generate support and improve efficiency of school support staff, weekly workshops in one Florida school district addressed previously assessed needs among the staff. (JW)

Because of recent educational innovations with regard to learning disabilities, more effective methods are being sought for informing the school staff about new developments. A model is presented for establishing and implementing a staff development program in reading. (JN)

Reasons for frustrations surrounding needs assessment in organizations are examined. Action strategies are paired with three of the root causes of obstacles to effective assessment: (1) flawed needs assessments; (2) no organizational support; and (3) inadequate expertise assigned to the effort. A sidebar presents four possible causes linked to…