The DCP Takes a Turn in Pathways

The Toastmasters Distinguished Club Program (DCP) helps clubs provide their members with a consistently high-quality experience. The DCP will have the same aim after the Toastmasters Pathways learning experience rolls out. The format, however, will be different. 

Currently there are six educational goals—and 10 goals altogether—in the DCP. The six goals represent a combination of education awards earned by club members:

In the Pathways learning experience, the educational goals take a different form. (The other four DCP goals will not change.) The number of educational goals will remain the same in Pathways—six—but they will represent the work members do in learning paths rather than in the manuals of the current education program.  

Pathways will launch with 10 learning paths. In each path, members advance through five levels of achievement, each level building on the previous one. The DCP educational goals in Pathways reflect this structure. For example, the first goal for a club is to have four members complete Level 1 in their respective learning paths.

    The six goals in Pathways function the same as the six goals in the current DCP. For example, the fifth Pathways goal—one member completing Level 4 in a learning path—will earn the member’s club the same amount of DCP credit as the current fifth goal: one member earning a CL, ALB, ALS or DTM. However, it’s impossible to achieve exact parity since the two education programs are structured differently.

The six educational goals in Pathways represent a combination of members completing the following:

As with the current program, the six goals have to be met by separate individuals in each category—one member can’t achieve the same goal twice. In other words, four Level 1’s can’t be completed by three members, only by four separate members. 

Clubs will have plenty of time before they have to formally adopt the new DCP format. There will be a transition period during which the current education program runs concurrently with Pathways. Members can participate in one program or the other (or both, if they choose). During this time, clubs will have flexibility when it comes to the DCP. They can still aim for completing six educational goals—but they can choose from 12 options: Members can meet the six current educational goals, the six Pathways goals or a mix of goals from both education programs. (See the chart at the bottom of the article.)

The idea is to make the switch to the DCP in Pathways as seamless as possible. Once the transition period ends, the six Pathways goals will be the DCP educational goals for all clubs. The transition period lasts for two years after all regions have been included in the Pathways rollout.  

Find more information about the Toastmasters Pathways learning experience here.

For more information about the DCP in the current education program, see the Distinguished Club Program and Club Success Plan, item 1111 in the Toastmasters online store. It’s also available as a PDF.