This newsletter theme issue focuses on the training of practitioners to work with infants, toddlers, and their families with emphasis on the activities of the TASK (Training Approaches for Skills and Knowledge) Project of the National Center for Clinical Infant Programs. The TASK project addresses the concerns of four "stakeholder" groups:…

This newsletter presents five articles focusing on the social development of infants and very young children. The first article, "Sympathetic Behavior in Very Young Children," by Lois Barclay Murphy, gives examples of early sympathetic behavior, traces the development of sympathy, identifies individual patterns of sympathetic response,…

The report provides a survey of staff development (SD) managers in 505 English, Welsh, and Scottish further education colleges (227 responses). The objective was to determine how much SD has changed and matured since incorporation, and how much it has created benchmarks. Findings indicated that few staff developers had a relevant SD qualification.…

This newsletter theme issue features articles on training of direct service staff working with persons with developmental disabilities in employment, education, and residential settings. The articles examine job training, delivery systems, training models, and implications of current approaches. The newsletter includes three articles presenting…

This publication describes an inservice training program implemented in September 1979 in the Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland) to help physical education teachers involved with mainstreamed handicapped students. Issues emphasized in planning the program were relevance, information, convenience, and feasibility of the workshop model. Two…

The discrepancy evaluation model (DEM) specifies that evaluation consists of comparing performance with a standard, yielding discrepancy information. DEM is applied to programs in order to improve the program by making standards-performance-discrepancy cycles explicit and public. Action-oriented planning is involved in creating standards; a useful…

This issue brief was developed as part of the Consortium on Inclusive Schooling Practices' framework for standards-based systemic reform. The brief focuses on one of the six major policy areas identified by the Consortium, professional development. It first discusses the concept of teachers as lifelong learners, then explores professional…

The articles in this journal issue present a variety of teaching methods to enhance writing instruction. The titles of the articles and their authors are as follows: (1) "Writing for Real World Audiences in the Classroom?" (James P. Beck); (2) "Copycatting: Learning to Write by Imitating" (Mary Ann Stemper); (3) "The…

This newsletter issue describes the Community Based Inservice Model (CBIM) of the Teaching Research Infant and Child Center (Oregon). This project provides training to personnel who serve secondary age students with moderate to severe disabilities. The project's has been funded by the Federal Government and is based on the philosophy of teaching…

This study examined factors that predict a general education teacher's efficacy beliefs for instructing students with learning and behavior problems and whether a teacher's perceived efficacy has a stronger direct effect on reported success than other variables. One hundred twenty-eight second grade teachers completed a survey instrument designed…