A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

National Evaluation of The Even Start Family Literacy Program, 1998

Chapter 4

What Inservice Training Do Even Start Staff Receive?

Even Start projects are required to provide inservice training to build upon their staff's previous education and work experience. Even Start administrators received an average of eight days of inservice training during the 1996-97 program year; instructors and family specialists each received an average of seven inservice days; and aides received an average of five inservice days.

The inservice training that Even Start projects provided to most of their staff covered a wide range of topics that pertained to program coordination (Appendix B, Exhibit B.6). Continuing the same pattern from the previous two years, in 1996-97 about three-quarters of projects (76 percent) provided most of their staff with training in program planning or improvement, and 70 percent provided training in team building. In 50 percent to 57 percent of projects, most staff also received inservice training in recruitment, retention, home visits, and the local evaluation.

Somewhat fewer projects (14 percent to 37 percent) provided training to "most" of their staff in adult education areas. Of these, training in adult assessment was the most common, taught to most staff in 37 percent of projects.

Between 47 percent and 70 percent of projects provided most of their staff with training in four parenting education topic areas: parent and child activities; child rearing and child development; parent's role as a teacher; and life skills. More than 40 percent of projects provided inservice training to most of their staff in four topic areas related to early childhood education: child development; conducting child assessment; classroom or behavior management; and school readiness.

The greater emphasis placed on staff training in parenting and early childhood education topics, compared to adult education topics, may reflect:

• The relative scarcity of non-Even Start programs in the community providing family literacy, parenting education, and services for very young children; and
• The relatively limited role of collaborating agencies in providing Even Start parenting education and services for infants and toddlers (see Exhibit 4.7).

Finally, approximately one-third to one-half of projects trained most of their staff on adapting their educational programs to participants' needs and circumstances. The specific topics included: participants' family or personal problems (49 percent); participants' ethnic and cultural backgrounds (45 percent); family's educational needs (42 percent); and learners with special needs (30 percent).

Fifty-three percent of all reporting projects indicated that their staff had attended inservice sessions on topics other than those discussed above. Some additional inservice themes included: technology related topics such as computer, video, and Internet; health and safety issues, such as gang awareness and communicable diseases; and social problems of families, such as child abuse/neglect, substance abuse, single parenthood, and divorce.

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[ How Are the Even Start Services Staffed? ]

[ To What Extent Do Collaborating Agencies Provide the Core Educational Services? ]