This article describes services the staff development system will need to be successful, presenting the structures for governance and organization and illustrating the interface of the system with the needs of individuals, professionals, schools, and school districts in curriculum, instruction, and technology. (SM)

Proposes that training paraprofessionals for routine reference desk service is an inexpensive way for libraries to allow professionals to address tasks such as long-range planning, policy making, and sophisticated information retrieval. Suggests that training should focus on specific questions that are likely to come up and on appropriate…

Demand for qualified and skilled computer science/computer support specialists will more than double between 1996 and 2006. Carnegie Technology Education (CTE), a non-profit business, has formed partnerships with ten community colleges, four-year colleges, companies and for profit institutions to provide Web-based faculty development and…

Argues that collaboration between Head Start and early intervention programs can improve accessibility to high quality child care and supports needed to reach and maintain self-sufficiency for low-income families of children with disabilities. Discusses how these systems can develop trusting collaborative relationships, increase affordability of…

Highlights the Annenberg Foundation (Annenberg III) initiative for arts-education reform that challenged other New York philanthropic organizations to match their 12 million dollars for the public school systems. Reveals the plans for the Center for Arts Education that is the Annenberg III program hub and criticisms of the program. (CMK)

The focus of this paper is on the education and training of staff who work in the early education and childcare sector but who are not members of established professions like teaching, social work and health. The paper provides an analysis of the extent to which this group of early education and childcare staff can be considered as a developing…

The preparation of paraprofessional providers of services to older adults is often a "back-burner" issue, even though most direct care of older clients and patients is provided by paraprofessionals. This community-academic project delivered gerontological training to 74 paraprofessional service providers and evaluated the impact of training on…

Trend watching reports are an indispensable resource in the e-learning domain. Many HRD departments consider these reports as essential cornerstones for the development of their e-learning strategy. But what is the quality of the forecasts made in these reports? In this article, several methods of forecasting trends are discussed, resulting in a…

In an increasingly competitive business environment, organisations have sought to increase productivity and reduce costs. The consequences of this for many employees include increased workloads, longer working hours and greater time pressures which, the evidence suggests, are linked to stress, high rates of absence and turnover. At the same time…

This article presents the staff perspective on the advantages of collaboration between a library cooperative in Southeast Florida and one of its member libraries. Collaborative relationships between library cooperatives and member libraries exist primarily to benefit library patrons and community users. Important relationships between cooperatives…

Action research is defined as systematic classroom-based inquiry to solve teacher-perceived problems. It has been a component of education, particularly professional staff development, for the past century under several names although geography educators in the United States have rarely used it for this, or any other, purpose. This paper reviews…

This paper reports on a project aimed at providing skills and resources to support nursery staff in identifying areas of strength and need in 3- to 5-year-old children. The six participating nurseries were all in areas of high socio-economic disadvantage. Staff were trained to administer, score and interpret a wide-ranging screening inventory.…

A carefully developed, comprehensive professional development plan takes time, energy, and coordination of resources, but when it's done well, it can seem as effortless as a perfectly pitched curve ball. Seven steps, each with a set of guiding questions, can help planners meet the goal and create a program that produces results. [Appended to this…

Organizations and institutions often measure progress in concrete facts, such as how many structures they have and how high they are. Osborne High School in Marietta, Georgia, measures its success by how many walls it can tear down. Staff members see walls as limiting and, perhaps more important, as objects that allow people to make excuses for…

Well-educated, charismatic leaders who can improve systems to enrich the lives of others are needed today more than ever. In this updated edition, John Hoyle identifies vision, motivation, flexibility, and openness to invention and opportunity as key characteristics of effective leaders, and challenges school administrators to think outside the…