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Direct Support Workforce Development
Publications & Products
Below is a list of publications and products related to the RTC's work in the area of Direct Support Professional workforce development.
Books/Book Chapters
Film/Multimedia
 | Direct Support: A Realistic Job Preview (RJP) (brochure) (PDF) - An RJP is a recruitment strategy used to give potential employees detailed and balanced information about job expectations, the employer, and the worksite, so they can make an informed decision about accepting a job offer from the employer. This professionally produced 22-minute video illustrates the real, everyday work of direct support professionals.; File Size: 44 KB
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Periodicals
 | Frontline Initiative - Newsletter for the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP).| • | Premier Issue (PDF) - Volume 1, Number 1 (1996); File Size: 133 KB |
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Reports
| • | National Validation Study of Competencies For Frontline Supervisors and Direct Support Professionals - This study examined organizational workforce outcomes; characteristics of and differences between managers, Frontline Supervisors (FLS) and Direct Support Professionals (DSPs); and workplace competencies, training needs, and timing of training for FLS and DSPs. Using survey methodologies, the study validated nationally the results of two comprehensive Minnesota analyses of competencies needed by DSPs and FLS, extending the existing analyses by sampling direct support professionals (DSPs), first-line supervisors (FLS) and managers in 77 agencies in five states. (2007)
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| • | Final Report: National Training Institute For Frontline Supervisors and Technical Assistance Project (PDF) - This project was designed to refine, test and deliver a National Training Institute for Frontline Supervisors using a "Train-the-Trainer" model and a distributed learning, technical assistance and consulting model to assist community human service employers, families and consumers from across the country to recruit, retain, and train direct support professionals and Frontline Supervisors. (2007); File Size: 97 KB
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| • | Higher Ground: The Dedication of Direct Support Professionals During and After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (PDF) - This report is devoted to describing the dedication of the DSPs that continuously supported individuals with disabilities
throughout he disasters of hurricanes Katrina and Rita and their aftermath. These stories, told by DSPs who worked for
Volunteers of America (VVOA) of Greater New Orleans, provide rich descriptions of why they continued to work at VOA throughout the Katrina and Rita experiences. By far, the most common reasons DSPs reported staying with VOA were because they liked the people they supported and they felt that the people they supported liked, appreciated, and needed them. (2007); File Size: 1.28 MB
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| • | CMS Direct Service Workforce Demonstration Promising Practices in Marketing, Recruitment and Selection Interventions (PDF) - The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) initiated a demonstration project to improve the Direct Service Community Workforce to test the effectiveness of different workforce interventions on the retention and recruitment of Direct Service Workers (DSWs). This report identifies promising practices in direct service worker marketing, recruitment, and selection across the CMS grantees. Under a contract to provide technical assistance to the DSW grantees in collaboration with The Lewin Group (Lewin), the Research and Training Center developed this report. (2006); File Size: 401 KB
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| • | It’s How You Look At Your Work That Makes the Difference”: Direct Support Workers Consider the Meaning of Their Jobs (PDF) - by John O’Brien is based on discussions with direct support workers from the South Central Division of Creative Community Living Services (CCLS), an agency that provides residential services in Wisconsin, on ways to build competence, continuity and commitment to positive values in the developmental disabilities services workforce that involves building a deeper understanding of the ways direct service workers make their jobs meaningful and satisfying. (2004); File Size: 274 KB
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Surveys, Assessments & Other Tools
| • | Find, Choose and Keep Great Direct Support Professionals - The Illinois Direct Support Professional Workforce Initiative has created two versions (family and individual) of a toolkit designed to provide easy-to-use tips and strategies to help people to find, choose and keep high quality Direct Support Professionals. Anyone can download a copy of either or both versions of "Find, Choose, and Keep Great Direct Support Professionals FREE using the links below: (2007)
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 | Direct Support Professional Recruitment Toolkit (brochure) (PDF) - The Direct Support Professional Recruitment Toolkit arms individuals, families, consortiums, and organizations with the marketing tools they need to attract and recruit quality staff into direct support roles. Traditional sources for employee recruitment including newspaper ads, brochures, and flyers, have frequently been generic and flat. This tool changes that approach into a dynamic and targeted recruitment campaign for human service agencies and those who direct their own supports.
Target Marketing Target marketing is essential to attract the quality staff you desire. Although many employers are aware of what target marketing is, they find it difficult and time consuming to create a different marketing campaign for the different groups of people they wish to attract for employment. The targeted groups include: stay at home moms/dads, college students, Gen-Yers, seniors, faith-based communities, Spanish-speaking communities, and displaced workers.
Customization The Direct Support Professional Recruitment Toolkit is designed to be customized to reflect you or your organization's mission, vision,and values as well as your logo, and contact information for interested applicants. The Direct Support Professional Recruitment Toolkit includes brochures, flyers, newspaper ads, and recruitment cards for each of the seven target marketing groups. Materials are provided to you on a CD-rom in both Microsoft Word™ and Adobe PageMaker™ formats. (2004); File Size: 127 KB
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| • | Assessing Retention Outcomes (PDF) - This document and form will help you to determine your turnover and vacancy rates to choose strategies for retention, identify reasons your agency experiences turnover, and provide a benchmark for how well current interventions are working. (2000); File Size: 14 KB
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| • | Agency Plan Hints and Sample (PDF) - Agency Plan Hints and Sample is a tool to use when completing your agency plans. We have also included a sample plan in this docment for review. It will help you think about many of the things you need to include or at least think about when preparing your specific agency plan.; File Size: 40 KB
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| • | Cost Per Hire Worksheet (PDF) - This worksheet will help you to estimate the real cost of hiring new employees.; File Size: 17 KB
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| • | Checklist of Effective Recruitment Strategies (PDF) - This chart can be used to assess how many creative strategies this organization is using now, the extent to which those strategies are working, and whether the organization would like to start using the strategy in the future.; File Size: 10 KB
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| • | Effect of Recruitment Sources on Retention (PDF) - This chart can be used to determine which recruitment sources yielded the greatest percentage of new hires who stayed in the organization for at least a year.; File Size: 9 KB
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| • | Recruitment Source Effectiveness (PDF) - This chart can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of recruitment strategies. Use this form to calculate which recruitment source yielded the highest percentage of actual hires.; File Size: 8 KB
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| • | Market Analysis Survey (PDF) - This survey can be used to learn about the demographic and work characteristics of employees in an organization, county, or state. It was devleoped for use in Ohio for a recruitment campaign.; File Size: 22 KB
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| • | Frontline Supervisor Self-Assessment (PDF) - This assessment tool is designed to help Frontline Supervisors identify their current level of skill in the Minnesota Frontline Supervisor Competencies and Performance Indicators, and to serve as a basis for a self-development plan in these areas.; File Size: 70 KB
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| • | Training Needs Assessment - FLS version (PDF) - This survey lists each of the competency areas and specific skills from the Minnesota Frontline Supervisor Competencies and Performance Indicators and asks frontline supervisors to prioritize their most important training needs.; File Size: 18 KB
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| • | Direct Support Professional Self-Assessment (PDF) - This assessment tool is designed to help Direct Support Professionals identify their current level of skill in the Community Support Competency Skills Standards, and to serve as a basis for a self-development plan in these areas.; File Size: 50 KB
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| • | Training Needs Assessment - DSP Version (PDF) - This survey lists each of the competency areas and specific skills from the Residential Version of the Community Supports Skill Standards and asks DSPs to prioritize their most important training needs.; File Size: 15 KB
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| • | Exit Survey (PDF) - This is an adaptation of the staff satisfaction survey specifically designed to learn the opinions of staff who are leaving. Because the questions are parallel, scores can be compared to those for staff who are current employees.; File Size: 12 KB
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| • | Staff Satisfaction Survey (PDF) - The first page of this survey is a general satisfaction survey for staff. Items on which fewer than 80% of the respondents say the organization is good or excellent are areas where changes may be needed. The second page of this survey summarizes opinions about the best aspect of organizations, what organizations can do differently to help people in their jobs, factors that make people want to leave and factors that make employees want to stay at the organization. The response choices were developed based on open ended responses to these questions from several hundred direct support professionals in several studies.; File Size: 12 KB
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| • | New Staff Survey (PDF) - This survey assesses the extent to which a new employee's experiences matched his or her expectations. Averages scores of less than 4 on the five point scales identify areas in which better information should be provided during the hiring process.; File Size: 8 KB
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Training Resources, Guides & Curricula
| • | Make a Difference: A Guidebook for Person-Centered Direct Support - by John O'Brien & Beth Mount, with contributions from Peter Leidy & Bruce Blaney. This book is written for direct support workers themselves and for the people who manage or help direct support workers. Included are many worksheets and case examples. (2005)
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| • | Department of Labor DSP Apprenticeship Notification (PDF) - Notification from the US Department of Labor that the occupation of Direct Support Specialist is an apprenticeable occupation. Includes a written description of the occupation and the Standards of Apprenticeship (2001); File Size: 40 KB
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 | The Minnesota Frontline Supervisor Competencies and Performance Indicators (PDF) - The purpose of the Frontline Supervisor Competencies and Performance
Indicators project was to identify those competencies required of frontline
supervisors providing community support services to people with developmental
disabilities in order to foster the development and implementation of excellence
in service provision. (1998); File Size: 328 KB
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| • | Realistic Job Preview Overview (PDF) - Realistic Job Previews (RJP) are any method an agency or business uses to help prospective employees get a balanced picture of the positive and negative aspects of the work they will be doing and the organizational climate, prior to the offer of a position. This overview compares various RJP methods.; File Size: 28 KB
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| • | Community Residential Core Competencies (PDF) - Describes needed competencies for direct support staff working in community residential services for people with developmental disabilities.; File Size: 30 KB
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| • | Ohio PATHS Program - Started in 2001, this demonstration project designed and tested the specifications of a high quality, voluntary credentialing and training program for direct support professionals.
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| • | Removing the Revolving Door: Strategies to Address Recruitment and Retention Challenges - A curriculum targeting frontline supervisors and managers regarding the use of effective recruitment, retention, and training strategies. (2001)
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| • | The Peer Empowerment Program (PEP): A Complete Toolkit for Planning and Implementing Mentoring Programs Within Community-Based Human Services Organizations - A curriculum designed to create a mentoring program in community-based human service organizations. (2001)
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| • | The Power of Diversity: Supporting the Immigrant Workforce - A curriculum to assist supervisors and other agency staff find, support, and retain immigrant workers which includes a Facilitator Guide and a Learner Guide. (2001)
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Web Sites
| • | College of Frontline Supervision and Management - The College of Frontline Supervision (CFS) is an online multimedia training resource focusing on the topics of how to recruit, train, and retain high quality direct support professionals.
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| • | The Illinois Direct Support Professional Workforce Initiative-Project Web Site - Web site for a three year workforce systems change initiative funded by The Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities (ICDD) that is designed to improve recruitment and retention of Direct Support Professionals in Illinois, who are competent and confident in the skills needed to provide quality supports and services to individuals with developmental disabilities.
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| • | NADSP.org - Web site for the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals
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| • | Quality Mall - Quality Mall is a web site that gathers and disseminates information related to or useful in promoting the quality of life for persons with developmental disabilities. It especially focuses on promising person-centered practices and innovations.
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 | College of Direct Support - The College of Direct Support (CDS) is a computer-assisted, competency-based, interactive multimedia training curriculum for direct support professionals in community settings.
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