All WV STARS applications for Registry and/or for Career Pathway will only be accepted online.  Please go to the Professionals page select join and follow the below listed steps to apply:

1. Complete the Applicant Information tab and select NEXT
2. Read and mark Agree to the Participant Agreement then select NEXT
3. Complete the Employment Information tab information and select NEXT
4. Complete the Demographic Information tab information and select NEXT
5. Complete the Next Steps tab by choosing WV STARS Career Pathway and select REGISTER
6. Click on the Career Pathway Credential Submission tab on the left side of your screen.
7. Select Career Pathway Credential from the drop-down box
8.  Click on  APPLY towards the right of the screen
9. In the Experience in Early Childhood Education box click ADD NEW
10. Click UPLOAD, enter the number of years of experience in Early Childhood Education that you believe is represented on your resume and click on SAVE
11. Under the Formal Education label click ADD NEW DEGREE or ADD NEW ACADIMIC COURSE WORK
12. Enter the name of the Educational Institution, Type of Degree or Diploma and the Date Earned and select UPLOAD
13. After a copy of your official college transcripts or high school diploma/GED have been attached select SAVE
14. After attaching all documentation click on UPDATE INFORMATION at the bottom of the page to submit your information
15. You will know you did it correctly as it will show as pending on your screen.

Upon the completion of this application you will receive a confirmation email stating that your application has been received.  Please note that it may take up to 30 days for your application to be processed.  Once your application has been processed you will receive an email letting you know whether your application was approved or rejected.

Please go to the Professionals page and select join and then select the Registry Participant option. Then, follow the steps listed below.

1. Complete the Applicant Information tab and select NEXT
2. Read and mark Agree to the Participant Agreement then select NEXT
3. Complete the Employment Information tab information and select NEXT
4. Complete the Demographic Information tab information and select NEXT
5. Complete the Next Steps tab by choosing WV STARS Registry Applicant and select REGISTER

Upon the completion of this application you will receive a confirmation email stating that your application has been received.  Please note that it may take up to 30 days for your application to be processed.  Once your application has been processed you will receive an email letting you know whether your application was approved or rejected.

WV STARS staff wants to make your experience as pleasant as possible and communication is a big part of that by providing an email address on your application you are giving us a quick way to contact you if needed. It also allows us to notify you if there are changes in the WV STARS program that might affect you. Below you find a How to List for creating an email address if you do not have one.

1. Choose an email provider you wish to use to provide your email service. If you are unsure of what is provider you wish to use you can search for “Free Email Account” and look at the options.
2. Once you choose a provider, you will need to go to that specific website and click on the “Create New Account” tab.
3. This link will take you to a form that will ask for your information. You will need to complete this information. It will ask you to create a “desired login name”. After, creating the desired login name you will have to check to see if that login is available, if not you will be prompted to choose a different login.
4. Next, you will need to create an email password. Most providers ask that you use at least 8 characters which must include a capital letter and either a number or other special character. Make sure that this is something that you will remember and it will be case sensitive.
5. You will be asked to create a security question. This will be important to you later if you happen to forget your password.
6. At this point, you will either have to enter a cell phone number or perform a “word verification” in order to verify that you are an actual person. If you enter a cell number you will receive a text with a verification code. If you perform the “word verification” you will be asked to type into a box what you decipher a string of distorted letters and characters to be.
7. The last thing that you will be required to do is read the “Terms of Service” and click the “I accept. Create my account.” button.

If you did not renew your Career Pathway Credential by the renewal date, your Career Pathway Credential has expired and is no longer active. You have six months to renew your credential by submitting a Career Pathway Renewal Application or a Career Pathway Level Advancement Application.

If you fail to renew your credential, either because you did not submit the appropriate application and documentation or you did not meet the renewal requirements, within six months of the renewal date you will have to reapply for a Career Pathway Credential.  You will need to login to your WV STARS account and update your information and the upload required documentation (educational documentation and resume). Please note that if you previously held a Career Pathway Credential and are reapplying, you will still have to demonstrate that you have met one of the four renewal requirements. WV STARS will continue to track your training during this time so you may continue to sign-in using the same Registry ID that you have been using while working towards meeting your renewal requirement. You will not be able to “start over” without completing the required professional development.

Your Career Pathway Credential is active for three years. During that time, you are expected to continue your training, education and experience. At the end of the three year period, you will need to renew your Career Pathway Credential by demonstrating that you meet one of the renewal requirements:

• Completed and/or taught at least three college credit semester hours during the past three years that can be linked to WV Core Knowledge and Core Competencies.
• Completed and/or provided 45 contact hours (4.5 CEUs) of training that can be linked to WV Core Knowledge and Core Competencies. Participants must submit documentation of training participation in the form of Certificates of Training Attendance unless WV STARS has tracked the training attended/provided or has the certificates on file. WV STARS Registered Training must account for a minimum of thirty (30) hours of the forty-five (45) required hours. WV STARS can consider a maximum of fifteen (15) hours of training that is not WV STARS registered towards renewal. Any training used for consideration that is not registered must be linked to WV Core Knowledge/Core Competencies. Documentation of training hours that are not registered with WV STARS must meet the appropriate documentation requirements. Participants that are unsure about the hours tracked by WV STARS are encouraged to access WV STARS Professional Development Record.
• Meets requirements to advance a level on the Career Pathway.

You will be expected to renew your credential by the renewal date indicated by submitting the Career Pathway Renewal Application or a Career Pathway Level Advancement Application. WV STARS encourages participants to apply to renew or advance their Career Pathway Credential as soon as the requirement is met. You do not need to wait until the renewal date to renew your credential.

Please note that all individuals that have previously possessed an active Career Pathway Credential can access the Professional Development Record and their profile at any time. The Username should be your Registry ID and your password will be as you have set it. You mat reset your password at any time and an email will be sent to the email address that you listed as primary on your account.

If you are unable to access your profile or have forgotten your Registry ID please contact the WV STARS office for assistance.

Go to section 6: Career Pathway Submissions. Select Apply or Upgrade and/or Renew.

Select Edit beside the area that you would like to upload documentation to. Then, select Upload. Browse and select the document that you wish to attach and then select SAVE. This will submit this documentation for WV STARS staff to review.

The resume submitted with your application is used to verify your experience working in the field of early care and education. In order to verify this information accurately, the resume you submit must contain the following information: employer name, position title, dates of employment (with the month and year of the date of hire and the month and year of the date left, i.e. August 2007-January 2009), and some job duties of the position (if experience is working with children please list the age range). If you need some additional help in writing a resume, you can look at two sample resumes on the WV STARS website or contact the WV STARS office for assistance.

Your Registry Identification Number is the number assigned to you by WV STARS when you create your registry account or apply for a Career Pathway Credential. You will first receive the Registry Identification Number when you are notified by email about the status of your registry account. The Registry Identification Number will also be listed on your Career Pathway Credential both online and the mailed copy, as well as in the email Approval Letter, and in your My Profile section of  your account.

Once approved for a Career Pathway Credential, you will be assigned a renewal date which is three years after the date your application was approved. This date will be listed on your Career Pathway Certificate and in My Profile under WV STARS Renewal Information of your registry account.

The training information on your record will only be WV STARS Registered Training that you have taken since becoming Active on the Career Pathway. If the training you have taken was taken before you applied, your training will not be on your record.

If you have recently added a training and you see it listed on your Dashboard but it is only showing as 50% complete then you need to complete the Training Survey in order to receive credit for this training.  This is a requirement for all WV STARS Training at this time.

WV STARS requires Professional Development Providers to enter training attendance within 5 business days.  Once this attendance is added to your record you will be able to complete the Training Survey for the training you attended and view the Official Training Certificate on your Training Transcript.  If for some reason you notice that the training attendance has not been added you may contact the trainer that held the training session and question this.  If this issue cannot be resolved with the trainer or if you are unable to locate the trainer please contact the WV STARS office.

ACDS semesters and other training taken before the Career Pathway Credential was awarded will not be reflected on your Professional Development Record. If you completed a semester of ACDS before applying and submitted your semester completion certificate with your application, your completed semesters would have been considered when awarding your Career Pathway Level.

If you had a Career Pathway Credential while attending ACDS and it is not on the record, please contact the ACDS office.

WV STARS will accept any online trainings as long as the training is relevant to early childhood, those training hours can be used towards your Non STARS training hours (15 of the 45 hours needed for renewal can be Non STARS training hours).

Any registry participant or applicant is welcome to express a concern if not satisfied with services provided by WV STARS. Individuals are asked to attempt to resolve all concerns informally by contacting WV STARS to discuss the concerns or for further policy clarification. The WV STARS State Coordinator will address any concern brought to WV STARS in a timely, respectful, and honest manner which may include consulting with the Director of WVECTCR.

If, at that time, an individual believes that the WV STARS Statewide Project Manager and/or the Director of WVECTCR are unwilling or unable to resolve issues in a satisfactory manner, an individual may then follow through with the appeal process.

In the event an individual: a) is not accepted for registration on the Career Pathway, b) is registered on the Career Pathway at a level with which the participant disagrees, c) is not accepted as an approved trainer, d) is accepted as an approved trainer at a level with which the participant disagrees, the individual may file a formal appeal by following the steps outlined below. The individual may request a review of the action taken by submitting a written request of appeal within fifteen (15) calendar days of receipt of written notification of the action.

• The written request of appeal must be presented in the following format:
  Name of Petitioner_____________________
  Address of Petitioner____________________
  Phone Number of Petitioner________________
• I am petitioning the decision made by WV STARS regarding (state the action the petitioner finds objectionable and date that action was taken).
• I am requesting the WV STARS Policy Advisory Council review this action because: (state the reasons petitioner thinks the action taken was unacceptable). I am requesting that (state the relief desired).
• Signature of Petitioner:_________________ Date:______________________
• The written request must be sent to:
  WV STARS Policy Advisory Council
  C/O WV STARS
  611 7th Avenue, Suite 322
  Huntington, WV 25701

All members of the WV STARS Policy Advisory Council will receive the appeal with relevant information pertaining to the appeal from WV STARS within thirty (30) calendar days of receipt of the written request.

At the next regularly scheduled WV STARS Policy Advisory Council Meeting, the WV STARS Policy Advisory Council will review all the facts and render a written response that will be submitted to the petitioner and WV STARS. All decisions made by WV STARS Policy Advisory Council regarding the appeal will be final and binding.