Alternative Pathway to Licensing

The Wisconsin Afterschool Network is very pleased to provide after school programs with specific professional development opportunities that prepare staff with the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively work with school age children.  These courses are approved by the Department of Children and Families to meet educational requirement for school age program leads and group leaders.

With licensing approval, the Alternative Pathway to meet entry level requirements for the position of program lead combines the Introduction to the School-age Care Profession with Guiding Children’s Behavior in Afterschool Programs and School Age Curricular Framework. Additionally the Introduction to the School-age Care Profession is recognized to qualify staff for the position of group leader. These courses are FREE with a WAN membership.

Steps for FREE Course Registration:

  1. Create a free WAN membership through our website. Select Become a Member in Quick Links at the top right of the page. That will take you to a form to complete to create your membership. Once the membership form is submitted, the course discount codes can be found on the Member Home page also located in Quick Links– meaning you will need to login to the website to access them.
  2. Go to our course registration page (button below) and enter the discount code when checking out.
Register for Courses

Courses 

Introduction to the School-Age Care Profession

This course provides entry-level knowledge and skills for individuals as they begin to or intend to care for school-age children in group or family child care settings. This course will provide a foundation for the importance of Out-of-School time programs and explore the philosophy and goals for high quality programs. It examines and identifies the rules and regulations governing group and family child care for school-age children and the responsibilities of the providers.

This course will fulfill the first introductory non- credit course requirements for a school-age group leader (teacher) as specified in DCF Chapter 251 for group day care in Wisconsin's Administrative Code as it applies to school-age care.

 

Guiding Children’s Behavior in After School Programs

This course explores our individual understanding of behavior guidance and how our experiences and philosophy influence how we guide the behavior of the children.  The importance of relationship building with children is an essential component to behavior guidance will be explored.  This course will also share multiple strategies for dealing with challenging situations and the many techniques we have available to help children gain the skills to regulate and monitor their own behavior. 

This is a Tier 3 training opportunity, carries 15 hours of continuing education credits, is approved by YoungStar, and is part of an alternative pathway to becoming a group leader. 

 

School Age Curricular Framework

School-age Curricular Framework defines and explores curriculum within the context of after school programs and help staff develop the resources necessary to create intentional learning experiences and activities to support both academic and social-emotional learning of school age children.  Participants will gain an understanding of key elements and developmental concepts that go into creating a framework for curriculum and develop strategies for activity and lesson planning.  Developmentally appropriate practice will be explored as well as the creation of desired outcomes and goals and the impact of climate and physical environment that fosters learning.

This training provides 15 hours of continuing education Tier 3 training on the Registry and meets the YoungStar criteria for an optional point and is part of an alternative pathway to becoming a group leader.

 Visit our course page to register