Wisconsin Professional Development Organizations

Department of Public Instruction Quality Educator Initiative and Licensing

Any person seeking to teach in a public school, including a charter school, or in a school or institution operated by a county or the state shall first procure a license or permit from the Department of Public Instruction. (Wis. Stats 118.19(1)) Currently there are separate DPI licensing categories, depending on the age group of focus. The following early childhood- related licenses exist:

• Early childhood education: Nursery-Kindergarten (N-K) - prior to August 31, 1992.
• Early childhood level education: Pre-Kindergarten-age 3(PK-3) - effective August 31, 1992.
• Elementary education: grades 1-8, prior to August 31, 1992.
• Elementary level education: grades 1-6, effective August 31, 1992.
• Elementary/middle level education: grades 1-9, effective August 31, 1992.

Teacher education and licensing is in the implementation phase of the Quality Educator Initiative (PI 34), a major redesign effort in Wisconsin. The state legislature approved the new Teacher Education Program Approval and Licenses rules that restructure teacher education, educator licenses, and professional development for practicing educators in Wisconsin. To receive a license to teach in Wisconsin, an applicant shall complete an approved program and demonstrate proficient performance in the knowledge, skills and dispositions ( http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/tepdl/pdf/10kdp.pdf ) under all of the "Ten Teaching Standards" (www.dpi.state.wi.us/tepdl/stand10.html).

1. Teachers know the subjects they are teaching.
   The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the disciplines she or he teaches and can create learning experiences that make these aspects of subject matter meaningful for pupils.
2. Teachers know how children grow.
   The teacher understands how children with broad ranges of ability learn and provides instruction that supports their intellectual, social, and personal development.
3. Teachers understand that children learn differently.
   The teacher understands how pupils differ in their approaches to learning and the barriers that impede learning and can adapt instruction to meet the diverse needs of pupils, including those with disabilities and exceptionalities.
4. Teachers know how to teach.
   The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies, including the use of technology, to encourage children's development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills.
   
5. Teachers know how to manage a classroom.
   The teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.
   
6. Teachers communicate well.
   The teacher uses effective verbal and nonverbal communication techniques as well as instructional media and technology to foster active inquiry, collaboration, and supportive interaction in the classroom.
7. Teachers are able to plan different kinds of lessons.
   The teacher organizes and plans systematic instruction based upon knowledge of subject matter, pupils, the community, and curriculum goals.
   
8. Teachers know how to test for student progress.
   The teacher understands and uses formal and informal assessment strategies to evaluate and ensure the continuous intellectual, social, and physical development of the pupil.
   
9. Teachers are able to evaluate themselves.
   The teacher is a reflective practitioner who continually evaluates the effects of his or her choices and actions on pupils, parents, professionals in the learning community and others and who actively seeks out opportunities to grow professionally.
   
10. Teachers are connected with other teachers and the community.
    The teacher fosters relationships with school colleagues, parents, and agencies in the larger community to support pupil learning and well-being and acts with integrity, fairness and in an ethical manner.

A cornerstone of the redesign is the creation of three professional teaching stages:

Initial Educator License - This initial license is issued for a period of five years and is non-renewable. At this stage, the teacher works with a team of individuals to review and approve professional development goals. The school district in which the teacher is employed is required to provide a mentor for the teacher in order to provide support and assistance in the professional development process.

Professional Educator License -This stage is a renewable five- year license. To move into this stage, a teacher must successfully complete at least three years at the initial educator license stage and complete a professional development plan.

Master Educator License - This final stage is not required. It is a renewable ten-year license. To become a master educator, the teacher must meet the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards or other state-designated standards.

More information is available about the Wisconsin Quality Educator Initiative (PI34) by accessing the DPI website at: www.dpi.state.wi.us/dpi/dlsis/tel/index.html

Credentials
Credentials are awarded to individuals who have demonstrated skills and abilities in important aspects of their profession. Credentials are based on a series of criteria, including education, experience, and performance. The credentialing process is a means of gaining recognition for a person's professional development. It can play a key part in enabling the professional to achieve career advancements and goals. Major credentials include the following:

Wisconsin Professional Credential for Child Care Administrators
Wisconsin Professional Credential for Child Care Administrators
The WPCCCA is an 18-credit sequence of six courses offered at several Wisconsin colleges and universities. These courses include the following: Administration and Supervision in Early Childhood Programs; Operations Management; Financial Management and Planning; Early Childhood Programs and Their External Environments; Best Practices for Children and Families; and an administrative seminar. Upon completion of the 18 credits, each student must present a portfolio as a final culminating project. The Registry, Wisconsin's Recognition System for the Childhood Care and Education Profession, awards this credential (www.the-registry.org/)

Wisconsin Infant Toddler Professional Credential
The WITPC is a 12-credit sequence of four courses offered at several Wisconsin colleges to equip caregivers to provide the best possible experience for infants and toddlers in their care. These courses include Infants, Toddlers and Caregivers; Group Care for Infants and Toddlers; Infants and Toddlers in Programs, Families and Society; and the Infant and Toddler Credential Capstone. The Capstone integrates all major concepts and principles, either through a mentoring program, a field experience, a practicum, or an independent study. Upon completion of these courses, each student must present a portfolio as a final culminating project. The Registry, Wisconsin's Recognition System for the Childhood Care and Education Profession, awards the credential (www.the-registry.org/)

Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential
The Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential is a professional credential for caregivers of young children. The process of obtaining the credential is self-guided and involves the following: completing and documenting training in child development; conducting programs for young children, applying what has been learned; developing a professional resource collection; working with an advisor; taking a written examination; and participating in an interview with a CDA representative. The materials prepared by the candidate, the advisor's report, the written exam and the representative's report are reviewed, and a decision is made by the Council for Professional Recognition about whether to issue the CDA Credential.

Earning the Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential is a major commitment, but offers early childhood professionals who work with infants, toddlers or preschool children in group or family child care programs an opportunity to

Reflect on their work in relation to quality standards.

• Get feedback and support from people who have experience working with infants and toddlers, or preschool-aged children, and are knowledgeable about services for those children.
• Improve their skills in ways that are satisfying for themselves and beneficial for children; and
• Earn a professional credential that is recognized throughout the nation and may move them up on The Registry Career Ladder.

For additional information about the Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential, contact the Council for Childhood Professional Recognition in Washington, DC at 800-424-4310. Or visit their website at www.cdacouncil.org/

Wisconsin School Age Credential
The Wisconsin School-Age Credential provides individuals who work in the out-of-school-time field a systematic approach to gain the skills and knowledge needed and to demonstrate their ability to provide high quality school age care.

The Wisconsin School-Age Credential involves personal assessment by the individual through the development of a portfolio demonstrating competence in 13 functional areas and evaluation based on the observations and review of the candidate’s materials by a “Local Assessment Team.”

The credential is administered by the Wisconsin AfterSchool Association and further information may be obtained by contacting Linda Eisele at lindaeisele@tds.net or by mail to The Wisconsin AfterSchool Association, P.O. Box 1554, Madison, WI 53701-1554. The Wisconsin AfterSchool Association website is http://waaweb.org.

Wisconsin Education Association Professional Development Academy
The WEA Professional Development Academy (PDA) is a 501c.3 nonprofit corporation supported by the Wisconsin Educational Association Council. It was created in 1991 to be a catalyst for promoting and providing quality, meaningful staff development activities to members and school districts throughout Wisconsin. More information can be found at: www.weac.org/Constit/PDA/about.htm

The WEA Professional Development Academy, Inc. (PDA) is committed to providing the highest quality professional development for school personnel and districts throughout Wisconsin. Schools are undergoing significant changes, and education personnel are facing new roles, responsibilities and expectations. People serving in the many and varied support staff roles in schools need and desire more attention to their professional development training. Offerings for support professionals have been few, infrequent and sporadic. There is a demand for programs that are relevant, sequential, built upon client need, and easily transferable to the workplace.

Recognizing an existing need, the Professional Development Academy, Inc., worked closely with the University of Wisconsin system to develop a Certificate program for Education Support Professionals (ESP). The goals of the program are to:

• Increase the attention given to ESP needs for professional development.
• Raise the level of professionalism for ESP.
  
• Develop broad curricular of parameters so that completion of a program assures additional, significant knowledge and skills related to the individual's job and the school organization.
  
• Assure quality and applicability through a pre-approval process.
  
• Assure statewide availability of offerings.
  
• Award Certificate upon completion of a basic course of study.
  

The PDA is responsible for administering the ESP Certificate Program. This responsibility includes: reviewing program applications, approving the appropriate number of credit hours of each experience to a given curricular area, collecting program evaluations, maintaining a comprehensive record or approved programs, keeping records of each participant's involvement in the program, consulting with agencies and individuals seeking information, and awarding the Certificate upon completion of the total program.

The Academy also works with a variety of consultants and facilitators to present in-service programs through a variety of formats including online courses for school districts and other educational organizations. The PDA Director works with each district or organization to ensure that the offerings are tailored to meet their specific needs.

Program topics include the following:

• Classroom Management
• Conflict Resolution/Team Building
  
• Designing Mentor Training & Support Systems
  
• Effective Communications
  
• Stress management
  
• Technology Integration
  
• Working With Parents

This initiative is in its early stages, but will offer educators the chance to design an individual learning plan for staff development. The first PDC program is operating through the Institute for Learning at UW-Green Bay. The intent is for the experience to be viewed as comparable in value to a Master's degree, but more directly applicable to the job.

High School Family and Consumer Education Child Care Services Programs
Work-based learning is one of three areas of emphasis in comprehensive, standards-related family and consumer education (FCE) programs. FCE students who participate in school-supervised, work-based learning programs in child care services have opportunities to learn employability skills and occupational skills related to their high school courses. These opportunities reinforce the connection between work and school, provide a chance for meaningful contact with adults/mentors, improve students' chances for successful employment as young adults, promote post-secondary education, and help solidify career interests. The Child Services Co-op is a skill certificate program for seniors who are 17 years of age and who have satisfactorily completed the Assistant Child Care Teacher (ACCT) course during their junior year. The competency areas covered include personal/interpersonal, thinking/information processing, systems/technology, introduction to child care services, the center environment, children professional development, food and nutrition, health and safety, and special needs of children. Core employability skills are also measured. Students who satisfactorily complete the program and graduate from high school also qualify to receive the second-level Department of Health and Family Services (DHFS) employment designation as a Child Care Teacher.

This program is endorsed by the Department of Health and Family Services (www.dhfs.state.wi.us/rl_dcfs/INDEX.HTM), Wisconsin Child Care Administrators Association, Wisconsin Early Childhood Association, and Wisconsin Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA).

For additional information go to DPI's Family and Consumer Education Consultants or http://dpi.wi.gov/cte/fceindex.html

National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Certificate
The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization governed by a 63-member board of directors. Their mission is to establish high and rigorous standards for what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do. National Board Certification is a credential that says a teacher has been assessed by his/her peers and pronounced "accomplished"; this includes making sound professional judgments about student learning and acting effectively based on those judgments. The NBPTS does not replace state licensing. It is a professional certification increasingly used by states as an option for advanced licensing options.

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is developing advanced standards for teachers in more than 30 certification fields. These certificates -- and the standards on which they are based -- are structured around student developmental levels (early childhood, middle childhood, etc.) as well as by subject area. Standards grow out of the National Board's central policy statement, "What Teachers Should Know and Be Able to Do." Teachers in Wisconsin can obtain financial assistance and rewards for becoming certified by the NBPTS. The DPI administers a grant program that awards up to $2500 to individuals who become certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Application information can be found on the DPI website at: www.dpi.state.wi.us/dpi/dlsis/tel/nbtopics.html

More details about the NBPTS can also be found on their website at:www.nbpts.org/

Other Initiatives

The Registry
The Registry (www.the-registry.org ), Wisconsin's Recognition System for the Childhood Care and Education Profession, was created in 1991 to acknowledge and highlight the training, experience and professionalism that is vital to quality child care. The Registry awards a certificate verifying that individuals have met all State of Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services entry level and also tracks continuing education requirements. Training above and beyond those requirements along with experience and professional contributions are represented by the levels of The Registry's career levels. All training is quantified by core knowledge areas as defined by The National Registry Alliance.

The certificates honor each recipient's unique training background and provide a tool for demonstrating their qualities and strengths as well as their professional image. Registry certificates encourage growth and ambition by defining goals and celebrating the attainment of those goals. They provide a standard that helps parents choose the child care qualities that best fit their family's needs. Registry certificates show the world that how we educate and care for our children truly does matter.

The Registry has developed a Career Level System based on education, experience, and professional contributions. The Registry also developed and oversees

• The Wisconsin Professional Credential for Child Care Administrators.
• The Wisconsin Infant Toddler Professional Credential.
• The Wisconsin Professional Preschool Credential.
• A project with Milwaukee County to issue certificates to certified providers.
• A Continuing Education Units (CEU) Training Approval System.
• Verification of entry- level course work provided outside of higher education.
• Verification of informal training, through the Bar Code Training Verification System.
• Home office of The National Registry Alliance.

T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® WISCONSIN
T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® WISCONSIN (www.wecanaeyc.org/teach/index.php?category_id=2615) is a statewide program designed to provide educational scholarship opportunities for child care and Head Start teachers, family child care providers, and directors and administrators who work in regulated child care settings. T.E.A.C.H. stands for “Teacher Education and Compensation Helps”. It links training, compensation, and commitment to improving the quality of early childhood care and education. The scholarship program involves a partnership for the sharing of expenses by the caregiver receiving a scholarship, the sponsoring child care center or family child care program, and the T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® WISCONSIN Scholarship program.

Major components of the T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® WISCONSIN Project include the following:

Education - Scholarship recipients are required to complete a designated amount of coursework during a specified time period.
Scholarship - The project is designed around principles of partnership.
T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® WISCONSIN pays a percentage of each recipient's books and tuition costs, a travel stipend, and release time. The sponsoring child care program and recipient share in the costs of tuition, books, and release time.
Compensation - T.E.AC.H. Early Childhood® WISCONSIN awards a bonus upon completion of coursework and contracts. In some models, sponsoring child care programs grant an additional raise or bonus.
Commitment - Scholarship recipients make a commitment to remain in the program for an additional period of time following the satisfactory completion of their scholarship program.

For more information contact WECA at 1-800-783-9322 or teach@wecanaeyc.org

Wisconsin Early Childhood Collaborating Partners Professional Development Initiative
Professional development is a core component of all the work of the Wisconsin Early Childhood Collaborating Partners (WECCP). There is a parallel commitment to develop systems of services and supports for families as well as systems of professional development for those who provide the services and supports. This commitment is demonstrated through the following activities:

• Promote early childhood as a comprehensive system with a range of professionals including
  1. Medical and access to medical care
  2. Family support
  3. Parent education
  4. Mental health
  5. Early care and education
  
• Develop/align/implement core competencies
  
• Design a statewide training and technical assistance system easily accessed by child care, Head Start, kindergarten, early intervention/early childhood special education personnel, and other community
  
• Enhance linkages with higher education that support articulation and ongoing professional development experiences

Wisconsin Alliance for Infant Mental Health (WI-AIMH)
The vision of WI-AIMH (www.wiimh.org ) is to have every infant and young child in Wisconsin have his or her mental health and developmental needs met within the context of their community and culture. The WIECMHA mission involves three related but separate activities:

• Increase knowledge regarding the expected social and emotional development of infants and young children, emphasizing (1) the importance of sensitive, responsive, and consistent relationships for infants and families, and (2) the value of therapeutic interventions when appropriate.
• Promote collaboration among service providers, families, and others concerned with the mental health of infants, young children, families, and their caregivers to build a seamless and full spectrum service delivery system.
• Influence public policy at the local, state, and national levels that supports the healthy social and emotional development of infants, young children, and their families.

The Wisconsin Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Plan presents a blueprint for a comprehensive system of care that includes prevention, early intervention and treatment. The goal is not to set up another silo for services but rather weave infant and early childhood development principles into the fabric of all systems that touch the life of children under the age of five. The plan works through existing public and private structures to enhance people's ability to support healthy social and emotional development.

The plan has six goals with suggested corresponding strategies and implementation tasks. In short, the goals focus on community competence, professional competence, system competence and policy competence. The first goal addresses increasing public awareness in all communities. The next goal addresses building the competency of all people that touch the life of a child under the age of five, from child care providers, to social workers to infant mental health specialists. Goal three speaks to the need for early identification through screening while goal four addresses referral and mental health treatment when necessary. The last two goals address steps towards helping policy makers and funding entities understand how to incorporate these principles and practices into regular practice.

Strengthening Families
Strengthening Families is a new, proven, cost-effective strategy to prevent child abuse and neglect. The strategy involves early childhood centers working with families to build protective factors around children. The Strengthening Families approach is based on:

• A review of existing research in the field of child abuse and neglect
  
• A national study that led to the identification of 21exemplary programs across the country
  
• Conversations with hundreds of experts in the field, researchers, practitioners and parents

The initiative has the following goals:

• To increase awareness that strengthening families is central to quality child care
  
• To increase the number of early childhood programs that are working to prevent child abuse and neglect by building protective factors around children and families
  
• To improve working relationships among early childhood systems, child welfare systems, and child abuse prevention programs and initiatives
  
• To integrate prevention planning among state agencies with a family-centered approach that includes early childhood

The CSSP website contains a host of materials from self-assessment and implementation guides for programs to updates on strategies being pursued by pilot states. For more information visit www.cssp.org