A needs assessment effort was undertaken by a local school system in response to a state of Iowa mandate to aid in the development of long-range responses to program needs. All teachers of the Grinnell Community School District were asked to respond to the 50-item questionnaire "Instructional Assessment Instrument" (included in the document). Part…

The report of the New York State Commission on Quality of Care for the Mentally Disabled looks at autism in five chapters concerned with characteristics of autism, parenting the autistic child, New York State's institutional care network for the autistic, perspectives of professionals on autism, and Commission recommendations. Among nine findings…

Advisory work and its relation to teachers' centers is described. The following topics are considered: (1) differences between advisory work and other staff development; (2) purposes of advisory work; (3) methods advisors use; (4) realistic expectations of the advisor role: dilemmas and discouragements; (5) characteristics, skills, and experiences…

The final report reviews achievements of a 30 month project to assist State Education Agencies (SEAs) in implementing physical education and recreation components of federal law (the Education for All Handicapped Children Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973). To develop comprehensive special physical education SEA plans, competencies of SEA…

Part of a resource package designed to assist local education agency personnel in improving the quality of instruction and supportive services to students with special needs enrolled in vocational education programs, the first of nine instructor guides presents an overview of the three-phase special needs identification and assessment system. A…

This workbook is designed to build or improve the basic planning skills needed by persons responsible for program planning in alcohol service agencies. An understanding of the generic planning process in the development or expansion of community alcoholism-realted services can be acquired through the use of this guide. The workbook attempts to…

This handbook, a how-to-do-it summary, explains the needs assessment in adult education programs. It contains workshop materials necessary for developing an organized needs assessment. Needs assessment, a systematic method of identifying what needs to be done in a given area, is operationally analyzed according to symptoms, problems, diagnosis,…

This citizen's guide is designed to provide suggestions to those individuals or groups concerned with the removal of children from adult jails. The guide presents an overview of the problem, a list of actions which can be taken by an informed and active citizenry, including: (1) monitoring and publicizing admissions practices and living conditions…

This linker's guide introduces the systematic problem- solving approach used by the Florida Linkage System. An overview of the System's three SOLUTION ANALYSIS SERIES Guidebooks is given in order to clearly identify the different steps in the system's proposed training process. (LH)

This handbook is designed to aid in the implementation of a Career Education PLUS (planning, learning, understanding, and succeeding) class that is built upon the concept of experience-based career education. Following an introductory section, the first of five additional sections outlines steps that should be taken to determine the interest and…

Several models of curriculum and staff development are described to provide guidance toward the goal of harmoniously blending a humanized curriculum and humanized instruction. The author compares the "explosive" and "implosive" designs for program development and instruction and argues that the implosive design should be adopted and that…

Two papers are presented, related to Australian activity therapy centers (places which teach the mentally handicapped personal, social, and prevocational skills complementary to their vocational needs). The first paper discusses the assessment of needs and implementation of client-based programs. Assessment and programing are said to be…

The report describes Maryland's plan for a Comprehensive System of Personnel Development (CSPD), as mandated by P.L. 94-142, The Education for All Handicapped Children Act. Procedures are outlined by which local education agency personnel can request assistance in inservice training. A discussion of needs assessment procedures includes tables on…

The goal of this project is to develop a school-based instructional program to maximize unique talents in students. A step-by-step report on the project development is presented from the identification of clear achievable goal, through the on-going process of implementation and evaluation of results to synthesizing the concept and establishing it…

This monograph is designed to assist individual schools to plan for, organize, implement, and manage their own elementary school guidance programs. Those school districts supporting a centralized team planning approach to program development will also find the monograph useful, but may wish to adapt some of the suggestions to fit their own…