A CASE-STUDY IN PLANNING STAFF-DEVELOPMENT - WHAT DO TEACHERS REALLY NEED

Through individual interviews and small focus groups, teachers, suppor t staff, parents, students and administrators participated in a traini ng needs assessment (TNA). The purpose of the TNA was to seek informat ion about actual or current performance of teachers signing skills, th e optimal performance desired, feelings, causes of performance problem s and possible solutions from a variety of perspectives. All TNA parti cipants provided information about how the program may help to motivat e, facilitate and enhance teachers' communication skills in the classr oom. The use of the TNA was an effort to collaborate with teachers rat her than criticize them for their level of signing skills. The case st udy demonstrated that staff development alone was not the remedy for p erformance problems and that other factors contributed to teacher perf ormance.