A comparison of staff development programs in two-year colleges with and without formalized staff development plans

The purpose of this study was to (1) determine the extent to which there exists both formal and informal staff development programs in public two-year colleges in the United States, and (2) to determine whether or not the existence of formal staff development programs relates to expenditure for staff development activities.

The current status of the nature and extent of staff development programs in the United States was surveyed. A questionnaire designed to determine the important aspects of staff development in public community-junior colleges was developed. The questionnaire was then sent to 110, or approximately 10 percent of the public community, junior and technical college presidents as listed in the 1975 Community, Junior, and Technical College Directory.

Data were analyzed to determine the extent to which there existed formalized staff development programs in public community, junior and technical colleges. No attempt was made to develop a model to be used for staff development. However, from these data, one is able to determine what types of staff development activities are being used in different sized institutions with varying instructional budgets.

The results of this study will enable the reader to determine what public community, junior and technical colleges are doing nationwide in terms of staff development, particularly in budget and finance of staff development, administration of staff development, specific areas of staff development and the evaluation of on-going staff development programs.