Westview provides a multi-faceted program for staff development. We begin each school year with two days of in-service training conducted by school administrative staff. Our Educational Director supervises all teaching staff, meeting with individual teachers on a regular basis to provide strategies for augmenting curriculum and managing classroom behavior. Staff in-services are scheduled throughout the school year in the areas of curriculum development, teaching strategies, behavior management, community resources and identification of serious emotional disturbance. These in-services are conducted both by Westview staff and outside experts. Additionally, LAUSD, the County Board of Education, the California Associations of Special Education Private Schools (CAPSES) and other private organizations will notify us about staff development workshops, which are open to non-public school staff. We also employ several waivered and emergency credentialed teachers who are required to continue their teacher training at local colleges and universities. We provide financial incentive in the form of a step-raise on our pay scale when credential goals are met. We also provide leave time and will pay for the tuition for staff members who attend specific workshops and training courses. Recently, we have sent several staff members to be trained in the Lindamood-Bell and Fast Forward reading programs.

The Westview School recognizes the importance of providing ongoing staff development training for all our professional staff. We have identified the areas of curriculum development, identification of both school and individual goals/objectives, methodology for remediating of learning disabilities, and behavior management as the main focuses for our professional development program. Accordingly, we have provided the following in-service training program during the 2004-2005 school year. Weekly in-service training sessions were mandatory for all new teaching staff and optional for returning staff depending on the topic to be covered. Meetings lasted from 1 to ½ hours and were conducted by in-house staff or outside specialists.

Additionally, Westview has scheduled five minimum days and five pupil free days to be used for full staff in-services. These sessions will last approximately 2 ½ hours.

Topics to be covered include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Identification for learning disabilities
• Remediation of specific learning disabilities
• Methods for evaluation of student progress
• Eating disorders
• Educational software
• CPR
• Team building skills
• Curriculum development
• Psychological disorders: personality disorders, OCD, Asbergers, etc.
• Teaching critical thinking skills
• Behavior management
• Teaching reading and math
• Assistive Technology
• Writing IEP goals and objectives and assessing progress

*Additional topics to be added as the year progresses

Ongoing supervision in the areas of curriculum development, teaching methodology and behavior management will also be provided for all teachers by Westview administrative staff. Additionally, staff is encouraged to attend offsite in-service training programs, which are appropriate for their teaching area.

Westview held 10 minimum days in the 2005-2006 school year. These days were used for staff development and/or parent-teacher conferences.