The manual is intended to aid programs funded by the Handicapped Children's Early Education Program (HCEEP) in designing and implementing staff development programs. Section I presents a working definition of staff development and outlines the preliminary steps necessary before a program is designed and administered. The section delineates the relationship between project goals and staff development goals. Also, a synopsis of goal types and management structures is presented. The next section outlines the components of the needs assessment phase. The methods of assessing staff needs are discussed, and assessment instruments are examined. Section III describes how identified staff needs are translated into long and short term objectives, and how activities are designed and implemented to satisfy those objectives. The choices available to the planner when matching program activities with specific training objectives are outlined. Described in the last section is the design of an evaluation plan for a staff development program. Evaluation formats to aid in deciding whether the program has satisfied staff needs and if alternative or additional activities need to be considered are discussed. Appendixes include a staff development checklist, a volunteer observation form, a teacher observation form, a general needs assessment form, a form for the participant's evaluation of inservice, the HCEEP orientation conference questionnaire, a self assessment inventory, and examples of objectives, activities, and evaluation of an outreach inservice training project. (DB)