Toward best practice and innovation in independent living training: Experiences from the multi-site evaluation of federally-funded projects

This article describes a cluster of child welfare training projects focused on assisting foster youth with transition to independent living. The article examines the extent to which the projects used best practice principles and, in cases where best practices were lacking, the factors that impeded such practices. The article provides a picture of training practice in child welfare, identifying innovative activities and recommending ways that gaps can be filled to achieve better training outcomes. The sites conducted careful needs assessments, developed learning objectives based on competencies, did systematic curricula pilot testing, and presented state-of-the-art concepts. Recommendations include that sites conduct a more rigorous context analysis to understand challenges in transferring learning to the workplace, make more creative use of advisory committees, ensure that content experts/consultants are integrated into projects from the outset, focus more on skill development, and provide sufficient curriculum structure so that training can be repeated in a consistent way as well as adapted to meet varied learner needs.