Community Support Skills Standards

The Community Support Skills Standards Project, completed in 1993, was funded by the U.S. Department of Education. It was an initiative designed to identify the skills, behaviors and knowledge that entry and mid-level human services professionals in a variety of settings throughout the country use in their jobs everyday. The research incorporated information from the National Standards of the Council for Standards in Human Service Education and confirmed the validity of the Council's standards.

The Community Support Skill Standards are targeted toward occupation and the work place. The National Standards of the Council, however, are targeted toward higher education and are inclusive of the Community Skill Standards with further emphasis on knowledge, theory, and professional development (as opposed to workers and skill training). The Community Support Skill Standards have been parenthetically cross-referenced in the Council's standards in the introductory paragraph for each of the curriculum standards. For example, the introductory paragraph for Standard 11 ends with the following statement: (Note: Relates to National Community Skill Standards, Competency Area 8: Advocacy.)

The self-study should address the National Standards of the Council, not the Community Support Skill Standards. By addressing the National Standards, Programs are also addressing the Community Support Skill Standards since they have been cross-referenced. Addressing the Community Support Skills Standards, however, would not address all of the National Standards or all of the Specifications of the National Standards.

The research for the Community Skill Standards was conducted by the Human Services Research Institute (HSRI) in collaboration with the Council for Standards in Human Service Education and other partners. You can read more about the skill standards project on the HSRI website at:
http://www.hsri.org/

[Note: last updated October, 2005]

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