A Case Study In Planning Staff Development: What Do Teachers Really Need?

Through individual interviews and small focus groups, teachers, support staff, parents, students and administrators participated in a training needs assessment (TNA). The purpose of the TNA was to seek information about actual or current performance of teachers signing skills, the optimal performance desired, feelings, causes of performance problems and possible solutions from a variety of perspectives. All TNA participants provided information about how the program may help to motivate, facilitate and enhance teacher’ communication skills in the classroom. The use of the TNA was an effort to collaborate with teachers rather than criticize them for their level of signing skills. The case study demonstrated that staff development alone was not the remedy for performance problems and that other factors contributed to teacher performance.