This report describes an in-service education program offered to teachers at a rural northeastern Head Start program to help them assess children's overall development by looking at their level of language development. The program focused on the case conference, a forum in which coordinators, teachers, home visitors, and sometimes parents meet to gather information used by teachers in planning teaching strategies. A deficiency in the teachers' ability to refer to language development in assessing a child's developmental stage was identified. To address this problem, workshops were developed in which a certified speech pathologist presented information to teachers about children's language acquisition and development, and also held informal discussions with the teachers. As a result, the six teachers participating in the program began to refer to children's language as an indicator of developmental stage during case conference meetings. Of the 52 case conferences reviewed after the workshops, 34 included references to language development. The evaluation of the program indicated that training focused on providing information, when associated with a practical application, enhanced teachers' job performance. (ME)