California DDS Direct Support Professional University: What Regional Center Providers Need to Know
On September 9, 2026, California DDS issued guidance for Direct Support Professional University, or DSPU. The program launched March 30, 2026 and provides a voluntary, online, competency-based training and certification pathway for direct support professionals.
The most important distinction: DSPU is voluntary
DSPU is separate from the required DSP 1 and DSP 2 training. DDS describes DSPU participation as voluntary, and only part of Tier 1 was available when the September guidance was issued. Providers should not represent DSPU as a replacement for mandatory training or as a completed three-tier program.
How the three-tier pathway is designed
| Tier | DDS description | Current status in Sept. 2026 guidance |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Foundational context, core knowledge, health, safety, and well-being | Only part of the coursework was available. |
| Tier 2 | Stronger practices supporting higher-level quality-of-life outcomes | Planned as part of the pathway. |
| Tier 3 | Greater depth or advanced specialization | Planned as part of the pathway. |
Who DDS treats as an eligible DSP
The guidance defines eligible DSPs as paid workers who primarily provide direct support to children or adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities, spend at least 50% of their work time on direct support tasks, and are funded by the Regional Center. Their work may include support and supervision, skills development, personal assistance, health and safety support, and helping people maintain independence.
DDS lists several categories that are not treated as DSPs for this program, including contract or 1099 workers, temporary-agency staff, on-call or PRN workers, volunteers, certain licensed or certified clinical staff, transportation-only staff, and administrators or supervisors who do not meet the 50% direct-support threshold.
Access runs through EDGE, and account setup matters
DSPU courses are accessed through the Employee Development, Growth, and Education platform, known as EDGE. DSP learners must use a personal email address when creating an account so access can continue if they change employers. Other learners—including providers, community members, and Regional Center staff—follow a separate account-creation path.
That personal-email requirement means employers should not assume they own or control the learner’s EDGE account. Internal records should instead capture the employee’s participation, completed course, completion date, certificate or evidence, and any organizational reimbursement or paid-training decision.
What providers are—and are not—required to do
DDS directs Regional Centers to share the DSPU attachment with service providers and ask them to distribute it to DSPs. The guidance says employers may choose to pay employees for completing DSPU courses, but it does not make DSPU participation mandatory.
Providers should evaluate wage-and-hour obligations with qualified counsel before deciding whether training time must be paid in their circumstances. The DDS guidance describes the program; it is not a substitute for employment-law analysis.
A practical provider rollout
- Identify qualifying DSPs: Identify employees who meet DDS’s DSP definition, including the 50% direct-support threshold.
- Distribute official notices: Distribute the official DSPU information without describing the program as mandatory.
- Separate mandatory from voluntary training: Keep DSPU separate from required DSP 1 and DSP 2 training in the training matrix.
- Establish verification protocols: Decide who will verify course completion and what evidence will be retained.
- Formalize paid training policies: Document the organization’s policy on paid training time and obtain appropriate HR or legal review.
- Maintain internal credential records: Track completion by employee, tier, course, date, and certificate while respecting that the learner uses a personal account. Reconcile this with supported employment documentation and overall staffing readiness.
- Monitor DDS releases: Review DDS updates regularly because course availability and the three-tier pathway are still developing.
Where CareAutomate fits
CareAutomate can support the employer-side recordkeeping around workforce readiness for California DDS providers: employee profiles, training requirements, completion dates, certificates, reminders, roles, and assignments. It does not replace EDGE or issue DSPU certification. The value is keeping required and voluntary workforce records connected to the employee record and available when supervisors or auditors need them.
If your agency tracks DSP training in spreadsheets, email attachments, and paper files, see how CareAutomate keeps employee compliance organized.
[!NOTE] ACCURACY NOTE: DSPU is voluntary and separate from mandatory DSP 1 and DSP 2 training. Only part of Tier 1 was available as of the September 9, 2026 DDS guidance.
Official sources
- DDS G-2026-Workforce-001, Sept. 9, 2026: https://www.dds.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/G-2026-Workforce-001.pdf
- DDS Regional Center Directives index: https://www.dds.ca.gov/rc/regional-center-directives/
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