Guidelines for Allowing Guest Speaker Presentations In

August 14, 2008

Guidelines for allowing guest speaker presentations in TANF Educational and/or Vocational Training classes

 Class training by guest speakers can be provided when they are an extension of the skills being taught by specific programs. Examples: Check book balancing and banking instruction. This instruction would be practical application of math skills. Another example, A librarian giving a presentation on how to use the library and access research material related to a class project.

 Class training by guest speakers must be related to the structured curriculum and taught as such. If they are not part of the curriculum to reinforce the education and/or vocational skill being taught, the training is actually Job Readiness* and these activities are not compensable under existing TANF funded contracts for educational and vocational training.

 Marketing or offering of services by private/public businesses, agencies or educational entities cannot take place during classroom training. Completion of enrollment forms, surveys or gathering of personal information from students is prohibited at the training site.

 Information from any interested private/public entity can be offered in the form of materials to describe resources and services available for students. This information must be made available for students at a resource table, bulletin board or in the form of a community resource book but not passed to the students during class time.

 Class training by guest speakers should be rotated among all interested parties. In an effort to avoid any appearance of unfair business practices, no one private/public entity should be scheduled on a regular basis without considering other like businesses who might offer a similar class/service.

 At any point, when a student appears to need special services, such as mental health counseling, substance abuse service, etc the OKDHS caseworker must be informed and involved in an alteration or update of the students individual work plan, TW-2.

*Examples of job readiness training activities, i.e., “Within my Reach” – Relationship training provided by certified trainers, Substance Abuse Counseling and Treatment – provided by approved substance abuse providers, Dressing for Success, etc.