COUNTY PARTNERSHIP TO MEET SKILL NEEDS & ENHANCE TRANSFER CLIMATE

The Ohio Child Welfare Training Program

Agenda

Discussion

Preliminary Findings

Overview of the approach

Brief Overview of our system

Major Metro

Metro/Large

Fewer than 50K

Pilot County

88 Counties

8 RTCs

4,604 Public Child Welfare Staff Members

8,374 Caregivers

In 2011…

4,168 Training Sessions were offered

878 Coaching Hours

2,616 Distance Learning Participants

Where we have been…

OCWTPFormed

1986

Train Track & Paper

Evaluations

Late 1980’s

Piloted online learning & skill

building activities

2006

Began coaching piloting & other

alternative deliver strategies

2009

Transition to online

evaluations

2011-2012

1986

Individual Training Needs

Assessment

2004

Began piloting alternative evaluation strategies

2007

Purchased LMS

2009

Piloted alternative methods for

gathering data about learning

needs

2012

Piloting use of many

sources of data to inform

learning needs and

TOL support

Here

E-Track

Implementation– Organization

Climate

CFSR

Picture This

Small county

• The exec IS the only supervisor

• 5 staff (4 direct practice)

• Recently laid off 17 people

• Closed children’s home

Exec Need

• Staff working in new positions that are unfamiliar

• No county funding

• Accepting too many cases

• Not doing risk and family assessment well

Assess

• Gathered county and agency data

• Met with exec

• Staff focus group

• Screening Identified as learning need

Intervention

• Coaching on Screening

Evaluation

• Accepted referrals decrease by 10%

Support for TOL

• Group supervision process

The Pilot

7 Counties 6 Regions

OCWTP Stakehold

er Support

Our approach

Use a team approach to assess learning needs and TOL support

Offer learning interventions to address learning needs and TOL issues

Evaluate knowledge and skill improvement and increase in TOL support

BUT—still individualized to meet each county where they are

Assessment

What and how data was collected varied by county Surveys Key informant interviews Focus Groups Any combination

Learning needs– used competencies, and questions to identify worker needs

TOL support– standardized questions modified from ….. Survey or CPS and follow up discussion

Triangulate data from all sources

Learning Plan

Use assessment to guide learning interventions

Allow exec/agency to prioritizeOffer menu of possible interventions and

select based on: Agency capacity RTC capacity

Address state of Transfer Climate & agency commitment to move climate

Address how to evaluate plan

Evaluation

Success

Objectives

identified by

agency are

achieved

Another Example

Medium county

•6 Supervisors•40 Staff•New exec

Exec Need

•Identified practice issues•Not doing risk and family assessment well•Staff needs differ from what staff identify

Assess•Gathered county and agency data•Met with exec•Used learning interventions to assess staff learning needs

Intervention

•Supervisor learning lab•CAPMIS Tools training•Provided exec support

Evaluation

•More holistic assessment of risk and safety•Include discussion in case conferences•Timely and thoroughness of case conferences

Support for TOL

•Included in case conferences•Exec set expectations for agency•All staff trained on CAPMIS

Preliminary Pilot Findings

Executive perception does not always equal worker perception of learning needs.

Supervisor role in staff development is sometimes lacking.

Pilot agencies are open to understanding and improving their ability to promote learning.

OCWTP staff must expand their skills

Requires different approaches to the way we do business.

And more…

Requires a quicker response to needs

Agency staff not skilled at defining or identifying exactly what they would like to see.

Some agencies want to address TOL support instead of learning needs.

Agency needs are sometimes identified through discussion with Exec about practice issues that would never show up on an ITNA

Evaluating the success of this process is county-based and complicated.

Questions

How can we coordinate an evaluation process that is so county-specific?

Is this process sustainable? How can it be sustained?

How can we better assess TOL support?

THE OHIO CHILD WELFARE TRAINING PROGRAM

WWW.OCWTP.COMK Y L E H O F F M A N , P R O J E C T M A N A G E R

K H O F F M A N @ I H S -T R A I N E T . C O MS T A C E Y S A U N D E R S - A D A M S , P H D , R E S E A R C H A S S O C I A T E

SS A U N D E R S - A D A M S @ I H S -T R A I N E T . C O M

Thank You!