Believe it or not, the stimulus money is real. The first round of funding last spring took longer to distribute than the Federal Government had hoped (surprise!), and few teachers and administrators saw any obvious benefit from it. Some schools systems were in such bad financial shape that they used the funds to cover operational deficits.

Nonetheless, a significant amount of money is coming into public schools, and two of the three most common uses for this money are professional development and support materials. Teachers and principals may have to raise their voices to make sure some of the new funds are spent for these purposes; still, there will be few better times than now to get federal help with the training and implementation of new methods. Therefore, we thought it would be useful to make the following points regarding the Stevenson Program:

• Our trainers are very popular. They all have different styles, but we continually receive compliments on all of them. Participants often say that the training not only helps them understand Stevenson techniques, it also helps them understand their students learning process and improves their overall instruction.


• Training is not required to use Stevenson, and we have known many teachers who used the program quite effectively without training. HOWEVER, most teachers feel more confident about making the most of our method once they have attended a workshop or two. Even teachers who have already used the program successfully without training tell us they learned important things from our workshops.


• The best training enhances an ongoing process. Good teachers, particularly those who work with struggling students, are always growing. If you are using the Stevenson Program, you have access to free phone support, training sessions and a variety of different materials from detailed manuals to fun manipulatives (see the PAL reference on the back page). Training is part of the spectrum of opportunities that allow you to fulfill your full potential as a teacher.