Pathways from the Classroom to Credentials
The "Pathways" project worked collaboratively with the University of Minnesota to develop interactive, multi-media assessment tools aligned with the Community Support Skill Standards - validated practice guidelines for direct support practitioners in human services. Through a participatory development process, partners including content experts, employers, direct support professionals and instructors were united to design relevant and practical performance assessment tools. The project contributed significantly to the understanding of performance based assessment of human service practice and to the instructional and assessment elements necessary to include in a robust professional skills certificate in direct support practice. Outcomes included frameworks that secured the qualification of direct support as an apprenticeable occupation and yielded tools and frameworks currently in use in direct support certification programs in Ohio, Kansas and nationally through the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals.
