Social Services Competency Based Training (SSCBT) Certificate of Completion - Agency/Program Director

What to expect as an agency/program director
Thank you for considering sending staff to the SSCBT training program. We appreciate your confidence in our work by making this major investment and commitment to staff development through participation in this program. As you may be aware, Portland State University has been working in partnership with Tennessee State University for over seven years to deliver this training program. SSCBT is one of the 10 programs selected nationwide by the Head Start Bureau in 2001 to develop a model credential program for Head Start Family Workers. The training program has been updated to meet these Head Start expectations.

The information below is intended to inform you of some of the resources available to you and what to expect during the year, and provide ideas to help your staff and program get the most out of this intensive training experience. The document, SSCBT Outcomes, outlines some anticipated outcomes for the program and growth of the staff as a result of successful completion and implementation of concepts taught in the SSCBT program.

Resources
First, you can contact Chuck Smith at any time on any issue related to SSCBT and the staff-development process. Head Start programs may be able to blend this training effort with other T/TA support from their Federal Project officers.

Second, the instructor at your staff's class site is available, especially for addressing classroom experience and attendance issues.

Third, each SSCBT intern has a field mentor who observes your staff working with families and provides feedback to the intern and her supervisor. If the mentor is from outside your program, she also attempts to make contact with you during site visits, as available. She can provide firsthand information on the applications aspect of your staff's training experience.

What to expect

• You can expect your staff to be challenged in order to accommodate an intensive training program into their daily lives. You can expect that they may or may not ask for your assistance in meeting their personal challenges.
  
• Your staff is expected to attend all of the scheduled classroom training or to arrange attendance at an alternative site if there are unavoidable conflicts. Please make such arrangements with the instructor and Chuck Smith.
  
• Your staff is expected to have at least one family to work with throughout the year in order to practice and demonstrate use of the skills learned. This may require special arrangements for staff who don't have a typical family service caseload. Call Chuck Smith if you would like some ideas for how to structure this.
  
• Your staff has a field mentor who does periodic observations of your staff in the field and provides feedback to the staff member and supervisor.
  
• Your staff needs to complete a portfolio that includes outside reading and personal reflection. This takes most people about 100 to 150 hours of effort outside of class time.
  
• Your staff participates in a one- to two-hour oral review covering all information from the training modules. These are typically scheduled 10-12 months after the training begins. We expect staff to schedule a time upon completing the other coursework (classes, observations, portfolio).

Things you can do to maximize the benefit to your staff and program

• Structure supervision time to include a discussion of how the intern can apply skills and knowledge from SSCBT with current families.
• Do a five to 10-minute check in with interns every four to six weeks. Ask about success stories and challenges.
• Help the staff tie this training and credits clearly into an ongoing professional development plan that includes obtaining a college degree.
  
• Determine the monetary and status value of the SSCBT credential in your program, and ensure that staff is aware of the value you place on it.
  
• Have a known forum where ideas from the training experience can be considered for implementation into regular program operations.
  
• Visit an SSCBT training site/session as a sign of support and to get firsthand experience on what staff is learning.
  
• Determine the performance indicators that reflect your program's view of quality services to families, and prompt staff to consider how their growing competence can be reflected in their work. Contact Chuck Smith regarding anticipated SSCBT outcomes.

Please contact Chuck Smith at 503-725-5917 or smithch@pdx.edu if we can be of any assistance.