Personnel 800 Provision of Adequate Staff 801 Student/Staff Ratio 802 Certification of Staff 803 Fair Employment Practices 804 Professional Development 805 Inservice Training 806 Personnel Evaluation 807 Position Descriptions PERSONNEL POLICY AREA 800 Provision of Adequate Staff Guidelines should be established to provide for sufficient qualified per- 67 POLICY DEVELOPMENT GUIDELINES Determining Local Needs The number and types of personnel to be employed should be determined on the basis of local needs. Some considerations are: • Number of handicapped students to be served. • Types of handicapping conditions requiring special services. • Types of vocational instruction and supportive (related) services specified in students' IEPs. A local education agency with a small number of students to be served should employ staff who can perform the functions of more than one of the types of personnel listed below. A larger school district may establish additional supervisory positions, such as supervisor of work experience programs or supervisor of supportive services. Variety of Personnel Who May Provide Vocational Education and Supportive A review of policy materials for many states indicates that a great variety of personnel may be involved in the vocational education of handicapped students. These include, but are not limited to: • A manager or coordinator of vocational education programing for handicapped students. • Regular vocational education instructors. • Special vocational education instructors. Special education teachers. • Teacher/coordinator of work experience. • Vocational evaluator. Supportive (related) services personnel: Vocational resource instructors. Orientation and mobility specialists. Interpreters, note-takers, direct readers, attendants. Occupational therapists. Social work services personnel. Job placement coordinator. Paraprofessionals/teachers' aides. POLICY AREA 801 Student/Staff Ratio The local educational agency may establish policies concerning the ratio POLICY DEVELOPMENT GUIDELINES Before establishing local policies, the local educational agency (LEA) should become familiar with state standards and regulations. If the LEA decides there is a need, local policies should be based upon such criteria as: • Requirements of state standards and regulations. • Number of handicapped students to be placed in a particular vocational program. • Type and severity of handicaps of students. • Nature and extent of the training program. • Supportive (related) services that can be provided to enhance success. Examples of policies include, but are not limited to: • Specifying maximum numbers of handicapped and minimum numbers of nonhandicapped students per vocational course. • Reducing class size if the nature of students' handicaps requires additional teacher time for instruction. Policies should provide for flexibility and creativity in meeting the personnel needs for the vocational education of handicapped students as more such students are placed in the least restrictive environment. POLICY AREA 802 Certification of Staff All instructional, supervisory, and administrative personnel in vocational PERSONNEL 69 POLICY DEVELOPMENT GUIDELINES Only a few states have adopted certification standards requiring certain competencies for personnel who provide vocational programing for handicapped students. Special educators at the secondary level have long been free to teach in prevocational and work experience programs without any certification requirements other than basic special education requirements. Similarly, vocational educators have been relatively free to teach handicapped students of any type without specific preparation. To ensure that competent personnel are employed to provide vocational programing for handicapped students, the local educational agency could establish experience requirements (occupational experience and experience in working with handicapped individuals) for all professionals involved. Requirements must be in accordance with state standards. POLICY AREA 803 Fair Employment Practices Local administrators should consider local, state, and federal equal op- POLICY DEVELOPMENT GUIDELINES Both P.L. 94-142 and P.L. 93-112, Section 504, require that a local educational agency receiving federal financial assistance make positive efforts to employ and advance in employment qualified handicapped individuals. P.L. 93-112, Section 503, requires employers with federal contracts to take affirmative action to hire qualified handicapped individuals. P.L. 94-482 is particularly concerned with helping state and local educational agencies eliminate sex discrimination and sex stereotyping. Funds under the basic grant may be used to increase the number of women instructors involved in the training of women in programs that traditionally have enrolled mostly males, so as to provide supportive examples for the women who are preparing for jobs in these nontraditional areas of employment. POLICY AREA 804 Professional Development The local educational agency should establish policies to encourage staff POLICY DEVELOPMENT GUIDELINES Professional Development Activities A variety of activities may contribute to the professional development of staff members. They include, but are not limited to: Inservice training. • College courses. • Conferences or workshops. • Activities of professional organizations. • Visits to other programs both within and outside the district. • Exchange visits by vocational educators and special educators to each others' classrooms. Provision of Incentives The general policies of the local educational agency would apply in providing incentives to encourage staff members to participate in professional development activities. Incentives may include, but are not limited to: • Arranging released time for such activities. • Paying part or all of the expenses involved in attending approved conferences. • Providing tuition waivers for college courses. • Arranging for college courses to be taught off campus at local schools. • Giving salary step credit. • Paying for participation in inservice training. Giving academic credit for inservice training. Developing and implementing an inservice program. POLICY AREA 805 Inservice Training The local educational agency should establish policies to provide an in- cover: • Use of incentives to ensure participation by staff. • Process to be used in determining the inservice training needs of per- • Development of the inservice training plan. • Implementation of the inservice training plan. • Evaluation of the inservice training. |