RATIONALE
Hillcrest Educational Centers Training and Staff Development program provides a learning and development process that promotes quality of programs, student and family successes, and professional and personal growth of staff. The training delivered meets or exceeds federal, state, and agency compliance requirements, as well as accreditation standards.
NEW STAFF ORIENTATION
All staff (including full time, part time and on call staff) are required to attend and successfully complete New Staff Orientation prior to assuming their respective duties and responsibilities of their position at Hillcrest Educational Centers. Interns, volunteers and others who work in the program will attend all or portions of New Staff Orientation as determined by the extent of their interactions with students, as well as their respective roles within the agency.
Staff may not be assigned any direct care duties with students until they have participated in and successfully completed all aspects of the New Employee Orientation. Successful completion requires participation in New Staff Orientation in its entirety including being present for all training delivered, completion of all on line orientation coursework, and meeting all competency ratings on written and practical assessments given.
New Staff Orientation is intended to welcome the employee and provide them with an introduction to the organization and the services it provides, as well as comply with the training and development requirements of federal and state regulatory and licensing agencies and accreditation bodies.
New Staff Orientation is comprised of five main components including All About Hillcrest Educational Centers, Skills for Life Treatment Model Training or Introduction to Autism and Applied Behavior Analysis, Therapeutic Crisis Intervention Certification, First Aid, CPR, and AED Certification and New Staff Orientation On Line.
♦ All About Hillcrest Educational Centers: This component includes training on the mission, vision and values of the agency, a description of programs and services, an overview of employee related topics, as well as federal, state, accreditation, and agency compliance topics.
♦ Skills for Life Treatment Model Training: This component delivers 7 hours of training in the Skills for Life Treatment Model focusing on trauma informed care and collaborative problem solving including, but not limited to the philosophy of a trauma informed care and collaborative problem solving approach, the basics of trauma informed care, the basics of collaborative problem solving and tools for the trauma informed care and collaborative problem solving toolbox. All staff attending New Staff Orientation participate in this training with the exception of staff hired for the Autism Program.
♦ Introduction to Autism and Applied Behavior Analysis: This component delivers 7 hours of training focusing on, but not limited to an introduction to autism and Applied Behavior Analysis, communication skills of children with autism, data collection and reinforcement, educational programming with individuals with autism, prompting and errorless teaching, discrete trial, behavior chains and task analysis, and teaching activities of daily living. All staff hired for the Autism Program participate in this training.
♦ Therapeutic Crisis Intervention Certification: This component delivers 28 hours of training in Therapeutic Crisis Intervention including, but not limited to, individual crisis management plans, relationship building, skill developing, verbal interacting and intervention and physical interacting and intervention, de-escalation techniques, and alternatives to restraint. Certification requires staff to successfully complete all 28 hours of training, pass a written post test with a competency score of 70% or better and pass two practical post tests, one in the Life Space Interview process and one in all protective interventions and physical interventions.
♦ First Aid, CPR, and AED Certification: This component provides all new employees with an American Red Cross certification in 1st Aid, CPR and AED. Staff must meet the minimum competency standards established by the American Red Cross for all written and practical assessments.
♦ New Staff Orientation On Line: This component provides all new employees with training in federal, state, accreditation, and agency compliance topics delivered through the agency’s Learning Management System via on line learning modules. All modules require post testing with a competency score of 80% or better.
♦Behavior Support Training: This takes place annually within the first month of the new school year.
ON SITE ORIENTATION
Following New Staff Orientation, all staff participate in an eight hour on site orientation program on the campus/site to which they are assigned. The purpose of onsite orientation is to acquaint the new staff with the physical setting of the site, introduce them to key on site personnel, review safety procedures specific to the site, provide a description of the programs and services, discuss the population served, review the routines and schedules of the site, deliver additional compliance training topics, and cover the specific duties and responsibilities of the new staff’s respective jobs.
ON SITE OBSERVATION
Following New Staff Orientation, all staff participates in an On Site Observation lasting the length of a normal workday or normal work shift. This On Site Observation is in addition to pre-employment on site observation that all staff participate in as part of the interview and hiring process. On Site Observation following New Staff Orientation, allows the new staff to observe their work environment after receiving the initial training, giving them an additional opportunity to observe and ask questions now that they have some background, knowledge, and skills and have been oriented to the organization.