II. Participant will distinguish between effective and ineffective training practices

1. Effective Training Practices - Introduction

In many school districts, inservice training for staff has not been seen as a priority partially because of financial and time constraints but also because of a lack of understanding regarding the expected impact of training activities. In some cases, inservice time has been used for sending staff to local conferences to gain awareness or knowledge on selected topics. However these conference presentations are usually not designed or intended to supply participants with skills to take back and implement at their workplace. In other cases staff have attended one-shot training sessions with little or no support following the training to assist them in implementing skills learned during the training. The good news is that this is changing. States are mandating staff development planning; districts and schools are being required to develop goals and missions statements and to have staff development plans to implement these goals. Administrators of many programs and districts are becoming more aware of the value of training for the staff and are making more opportunities available to their staff.

2. Current Perspectives