Abstract
Staff development is an important component of effective early intervention and early childhood special education for young children with special needs and their families. The special education program at West Virginia University developed a Web-based staff development model that offers advanced training to practitioners entirely online. To date, the program has offered two courses. This article describes the development and delivery of this innovative program and presents initial evaluation data on learning outcomes and participant perceptions.
PERSONNEL working in early intervention and early childhood special education are always in need of appropriate and effective inservice training opportunities to ensure that their practice remains current in the face of changing federal and state requirements as well as new findings based on theoretical analyses and empirical studies. Staff development is especially critical for professionals who work with infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with developmental disabilities, delays, and at-risk conditions and their families because practice in this area is changing rapidly. Many public schools and community agencies providing services to young children with special needs find it difficult to offer appropriate training opportunities for their staff for a variety of reasons. Emerging technologies, however, present new options for delivering inservice training to practitioners in a timely and efficient manner, allowing sufficient flexibility to promote professional development on an individual basis as well as systematic interactions to guide application in daily practice.