CharterPD is a system of autonomous professional development that utilizes the WRCCS Competencies and Proficiencies as a guidepost for Authorizers, Administrators, Governance Board, School Leaders, and Teaching Staff. CharterPD offers guidance to those new and experienced in the world of Wisconsin charter schools and provides a simple framework for initial, intermediate, and advanced learning opportunities.
WRCCS has created a professional development opportunity that fills a need that exists in Wisconsin charter schools. CharterPD allows professionals to access resources, tools, and statewide programs/personnel that directs charter school personnel to a network of professional development opportunities.
Celebration: WRCCS wants to celebrate the great work being done in our state’s charter schools every day. You work hard on all aspects of running a public school, but there are additional things that are unique to charter school work -- and those are the things we are highlighting here.
Recruitment Tool: We all have a holistic story to tell and sometimes our story is not fully captured by the data that is publicly available. By showcasing the various expertise of your school, you may appeal to new staff and students, and better articulate your attributes, success, and story to your community.
Pay it Forward: WRCCS serves as a way to connect schools with one another for support. By showcasing the various expertise of your school, other schools will be able to connect with you to find support in specific areas. WRCCS plans to share your resources in our open source library. We are all better off learning and growing together.
Step 1: Take a look at the WRCCS Competencies & Proficiencies and find the category your role falls under (Authorizer, Governance Board, Leadership, or Classroom).
Step 2: Determine which Competencies you'd like to complete through CharterPD.
Planning Your Experiences
Step 3: Make a plan - which proficiency(ies) will you explore and work towards in the next two months?
Step 4: Reach out to WRCCS to begin your CharterPD progress. You can email us at support@wrccs.org to let us know you're interested, and we'll offer support and guidance along the way.
We will set up an initial meeting with you to go over the process, give you the materials you need, and set check-ins throughout the year to help guide you.
Learning and Documenting Your Growth
Step 5a: You've chosen your competency or competencies and connected with the WRCCS staff. The rest of this process focuses on your learning and growth and you can now begin.
Step 5b: Documenting your work.
A Google folder will be shared with you that contains your school's name and your role. Within this folder there will be a document that indicates which competencies you are working towards. You will be able to upload evidence that pertains to the learning and growth you're doing with that competency.
For example, if you are a school administrator and working on earning a CharterPD Badge for the "Leadership - Legal" competency, focused on the proficiency around "creating/revising a student handbook that has language around discipline policies, grievance policies, complaint process etc", the evidence you would upload is the student handbook you are creating/editing for your charter school.
Once evidence is uploaded, a WRCCS team member will review your evidence and connect with you via a virtual check-in.
Goals of Completing CharterPD
Understand the requirement as stated in the competencies
Work toward growth in these areas
Record evidence of the work
Be rewarded for this professional development:
Badges and recognition through WRCCS
The ability to mentor other schools and receive stipends for your expertise
CSP Subgrantee Requirements
All subgrantees are required to show growth and development in a number of areas. We've aligned the WRCCS Competencies/Proficiencies, and therefore CharterPD, directly with this work.
The CharterPD work you will do is directly related to the evidence you will need to annually submit to maintain subgrantee eligibility. This means that you will be engaged in the professional development that we recommend to all Wisconsin charter schools while meeting the subgrantee requirements established by DPI!
The WRCCS team will be working with you to achieve this goal. Subgrantees are only required to complete/earn one CharterPD Badge in the span of their grant period, though we do recommend completing multiple.
*The resources listed above are not the complete comprehensive list of resources available from CharterPD (previously known as Micro-credential) Awarded Schools. For a complete list, please contact WRCCS at support@wrccs.org.
