Details steps to make day care staff training well-targeted, creative, and useful. The steps are: identify training needs, select training topic and define the target audience, define training goals, select methods of presentation and activities, provide good training resources for future use, evaluate training, and infuse the training with…

A survey of 261 Irish human resource development (HRD) professionals indicates that some HRD responsibilities have devolved to line managers, but less than in other countries. Most conduct systematic needs analysis (especially larger, private sector firms) and rely on informal evaluation mechanisms. (SK)

Responds to a letter from a camp leader who experienced difficulty with an adolescent girl during a 3-day hike and disapproved of a staff member's response. Offers advice on handling such a problem, addressing the staff member's intervention without undermining his credibility, revisiting the situation with the group, and exploiting the…

Offers advice to camp professionals on teaching critical thinking skills to staff. Lists components of teaching critical thinking and the characteristics and skills of a critical thinker. Describes staff orientation activities that emphasize critical thinking: role playing in an "if, then" format; discussing developmental stages and needs;…

Highlights the views of three keynote speakers who will share their insights into the future of the camp experience at the next American Camping Association National Conference. Environmentalist Bill McKibben, educator Cynthia Tobias, and futurist Ira Blumenthal focus, respectively, on connecting children to the natural world, understanding…

Addresses program evaluation of the personnel preparation in early-intervention programs. Describes an interdisciplinary preservice program, discusses the program's evaluation areas, reviews the specific evaluation tools, and presents evaluation results over a four-year period. Critical program components are highlighted. (Author/DB)

Provides advice on how to set up child day-care services within a school to allow teen mothers to continue their education. Among the advice given are to provide a comprehensive program, be prepared for resistance, tap multiple funding sources, pay attention to staff training and necessary paperwork, have clear guidelines and rules, and be…

Presents the latest information on how schools can keep their students safe. Safety oriented actions discussed cover incident reporting and tracking, tactical site surveys, school safety and emergency operations planning, staff development efforts, and facility design. Explains the need to review and test specific prevention concepts and emergency…

Describes the Teachers as Trainers staff development model which provides a comprehensive framework for faculty and staff training, and provides examples of its use in implementing educational technology into classroom instruction. Focuses on interrelated concepts designed to generate shared responsibility among faculty, staff, and administration…

Supports the use of professional development in environmental education and proposes that it be regarded as vital to learning as classroom instruction. Discusses the use of activities from programs such as Project WET and Project WILD. (DDR)

A judgment checklist can be presented to camp counselors through brainstorming sessions in which actual or imagined situations are reviewed. Camper and counselor behavior results from choices they make. Talking to children about their behavior is easier when adult jargon like "inappropriate behavior" is replaced with child-friendly…

A study of human resource practices in 18 automobile factories in the United States and Britain showed that manufacturing innovations are placing greater demands on line managers and workers. Training is being refocused to develop their interpersonal, team, and leadership skills. However, lack of time and suitable training facilities are barriers.…

Discusses growth of online staff and professional development courses and some of the issues and concerns related thereto. Also discusses several of the advantages for school districts, teachers, and administrators. (PKP)

This article addresses ways that regular and special education teachers can provide training for paraeducators and delineates the roles and responsibilities appropriate for paraeducators. Training suggestions cover the interview, orientation, sharing information, meetings, and team skills. Paraeducator responsibilities require teaching students…

A regression discontinuity strategy is used to estimate the effect of teacher training on reading performance and math among elementary students. It was found that modest investments in staff development is completely ineffective in increasing performances of elementary school children in poor schools.