New York Credentialing Pilot Leadership Update

Greetings,

Here’s your Executive Update on the New York State E-Badge Academy Pilot.

With Kathy Brown’s support, your Local Administrators are all working with their direct support professionals and frontline supervisors to navigate the E-Badge Academy and most of them are beginning to earn badges. It is fair to say that each of your organizations are progressing at different rates, some of you have participants logged-in but not making progress, while others are not only earning e-badges, but are achieving various levels of certifications. I think it’s safe to report that we have gained some momentum and I’m happy that we’ve turned this corner.

Some of your Local Administrators tell us that they’re seeing growth and transformation from many of your direct support professionals. They’ve also told us that some feel that the E-Badge Academy is helping them recognize their skills and how they’re intentionally demonstrating them on the job. In my opinion, this is the most insightful outcome of our certification program and I encourage you to go talk to your E-Badge Academy learners and hear it for yourselves. Let them testify.

I’m generally pleased with the progress thus far and as you know; our goal is to certify 2400+ direct support professionals and frontline supervisors over the course of the next three years. Due to circumstances beyond our control, the third year of this project is shortened due to our delayed start. In addition, OPWDD has recently shared that the ARPA funding for this contract will end on March 31, 2024 – a year before we expected. They have told us that the third year (April 1, 2024 – March 31, 2025) will be funded using existing funds. Of course, this is a concern, but we are moving forward as planned. We want to be proactive and take advantage of ARPA funds as they’re available and we plan to maximize these opportunities as best we can this year.

As such, we are making some mid-course corrections and will implement these three new approaches:

We are committed to certifying as many of your direct support professionals and frontline supervisors as we can and have recently decided to “frontload” the seats that would have been offered in the third year of the contract to increase the number of participants for this year. We’ll do this by allowing organizations to "replenish" your allotted seats that are no longer being used once a direct support professional or frontline supervisor has achieved DSP - Level III or a frontline supervisor achieves certification.
Those of you who are performing strongly and have direct support professionals and frontline supervisors achieving certifications, we will be offering new opportunities to increase the number of seats available to you this year.
We have invited three new organizations to join you in this pilot: Family Residences and Essential Enterprises (FREE), Developmental Disabilities Institute (DDI) and Montgomery County ARC. These organizations had submitted very strong RFPs in October and just missed our first-year cutoff. By adding them, we will be able to add an additional 130 E-Badge Academy seats to direct support professionals and frontline supervisors this year.

These were not easy decisions, but they’re necessary to show the outcomes we expect and the value of credentialing. We are confident, in partnership with you and your teams that we can meet, or exceed our goals over the course of the coming months. Your workforce, your most important team members, deserve nothing less.

As always, we are here to support you, please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions.

Until next time,

Joe

You, as leaders must continue to be informed, engaged and this pilot’s strongest advocates. I’ll continue communicating with you on a regular basis, and I look forward to hearing from you too. You can reach me at jmacbeth@nadsp.org .

Forward

Learn About Our E-Badge Earners of the Month

Each month, NADSP highlights an 'E-Badge Earner of the Month' to feature excellence in direct support and demonstrate the positive impact of the E-Badge Academy on organizations, staff, and people supported. You can read these stories to find out how DSPs and Frontline Supervisors are putting the NADSP Core Competencies into action.

Have Questions?

We have hired Kathy Brown as our NYS E-Badge Academy Administrator. Kathy is available to answer any questions on the process and the NADSP E-Badge Academy. You can email Kathy at Kbrown@nadsp.org

E-Badge Academy FAQs

NADSP has compiled a listing of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) that those who are interested in the NADSP E-Badge Academy can browse to learn more about the program. From setting up an account to submitting E-Badges, you can get answers to the most common questions we receive about the NADSP E-Badge Academy.

NADSP Certification

NADSP Certification acknowledges direct support professionals for their exemplary work in supporting people with disabilities. These various levels of certification including DSP-I, DSP-II, and DSP-III, recognize the knowledge, skills and values of direct support professionals, through participation in the NADSP E-Badge Academy.

By earning individual electronic badges based on specific core competencies and hours of completed accredited education, direct support professionals have control and flexibility in their path of pursuing certification.

Learn More

Stay Up-To-Date!

Learn more about NADSP by visiting our News and Updates page, with the very latest articles, events, and developments from NADSP.

View Now >

The vision of the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP) is a world with a highly qualified and professional direct support workforce that partners with, supports, and empowers people with disabilities to lead a life of their choosing. NADSP works to elevate the status of direct support professionals by improving practice standards, promoting system reform, and advancing their knowledge, skills and values, through certification, credentialing, training, professional development, and accreditation services.