VISSTA's mission is to provide "the right training for the right people at the right time"

The Virginia Institute for Social Services Training Activities (VISSTA) brings together the Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS) and Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Social Work in an exciting collaborative for social services training. Built upon best practice models from across the United States, VISSTA has evolved from providing basic skills training in 1990 to a comprehensive system that provides policy, skills, and systems training to staff in 120 local departments of social services. VISSTA now has approximately 120 courses in both traditional classroom and web-based formats, and supplements those trainings by bringing new research and best practice to VDSS staff through special events.

The scope of training provided through VISSTA responds to the need for essential job competencies required by service, eligibility, and administrative staff to perform critical service delivery duties. VISSTA's rigorous evaluation process documents the successful transfer of learning gained by those attending VISSTA courses and provides accurate data for continuing course development and improvement.

The following history outlines VISSTA's dynamic partnership with VDSS and the resulting training delivery system that has served local social services workers and administrators for more than 15 years.

• The Virginia Institute for Social Services Training Activities (VISSTA) was established in April, 1990, through an Interagency Agreement between the Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS) and Virginia Commonwealth University's (VCU) School of Social Work. The framework was built upon the Ohio model of developing competencies and the Individual Training Needs Assessment (ITNA) model.


• VDSS and the School of Social Work collaborated to develop a structure to provide training, and established VISSTA as part of the VCU School of Social Work. Simultaneously, a local training delivery arm was instituted with the creation of four Area Training Centers (ATCs), which were managed by the local departments of social services in Fairfax County, Hampton City, Montgomery County, and Washington County.


• Initially, the VISSTA training system provided skills training for supervisors and line workers in the area of Child Welfare. However, the program was expanded in 1994 to include Adult Services and Benefit Programs workers and, shortly thereafter, was expanded again to include Employment Services and Child Day Care.


• The skills training had three major components:
  
  
  • Defined competencies and learning objectives for supervisors and line workers for all courses in each program area.
  
  
  • Standardization of best practice that addressed the competencies, ensuring that staff in localities throughout the state received the same content and quality of training.
  
  
  • An established regional/local training delivery system with highly skilled, experienced trainers who were able to challenge participants in the learning process.
• This comprehensive, competency-based training gave workers and supervisors an ongoing structured process to assess workers' training needs through the Individual Training Needs Assessment (ITNA).


• To enhance accessibility of training, sessions were held throughout the state. This allowed workers to receive training within an hour or two of their place of work.


• To help assure that training met local agency needs, program area training advisory subcommittees were established.


• From 1990 until 2002, the partnership grew both in size and scope of program area, to include training for the implementation of large initiatives including the Comprehensive Services Act (CSA), welfare reform, fraud, and domestic violence.


• In 1995, VCU-VISSTA helped VDSS coordinate the development and implementation of testing for CPS workers. After testing was complete, three mandated CPS courses were developed by VISSTA.


• In 2001, legislation was passed requiring mandatory Adult Protective Services worker training with VISSTA as the development and delivery mechanism.


• In 2004, a fifth area training center was established in Richmond. The ATC is managed and staffed by VCU-VISSTA.


• Also in 2004, VDSS added the following to their MOU with VCU-VISSTA:
  
  • All Benefit Programs new worker policy and systems training.
    
  • All policy and information systems training materials in this area were rewritten by VISSTA curriculum developers to reflect the adult learning model already established in the skills courses. Procedures were put into place to ensure that all policy changes and updates were reflected in the curricula.
    
  • Five additional curriculum developers were added for the Benefit Programs courses.
    
  • New worker policy and systems training for Family Services and Child Care workers were transferred to VCU-VISSTA.
    
  • VCU-VISSTA added five curriculum developers for Family Services courses.
    
  • All Family Services policy courses were developed by VISSTA by August, 2005.
  
  
• In addition to the expansion in program training, the VCU-VISSTA scope of services has grown to include:
  
  
• Providing logistical and registration assistance to VDSS for the Child Care provider training program, Benefit Programs, transmittal training, and other training as requested.
  
• Web-based training and other modes of e-learning.
  
• A Management Training track for local directors and senior managers.
  
• The establishment of a comprehensive training evaluation plan and infrastructure.


• In 2004, under the direction and supervision of the VDSS Training Management Office, VCU-VISSTA acquired Pathlore, a Learning Management System or LMS. Pathlore allows the local VDSS worker to search for courses, register for training, and manage a development plan all from the convenience of a desktop computer. The benefits of the online registration system are many, and in 2006, VCU-VISSTA added the Enterprise version of Pathlore to link e-learning to the LMS.


• VCU-VISSTA has been critical to VDSS's strategic plan of improving social services delivery. VCU-VISSTA classes have developed standardized:
  
  
  • Values and best practice across the state.
  
  
  • Opportunities for interaction with other professionals in agencies that were formerly isolated.
  
  
  • Tools for organizational development at the local, regional, and state levels.
  
  
  • Access to professional development and job specific knowledge, skills, and abilities.
• From seven courses in 1990, VCU-VISSTA now delivers approximately 120 different courses through the Pathlore LMS.