SIGCSE Preview: A BOF on State-Level Computing Education Policy Change

Please do consider coming to the Birds of a Feather session (#20) this Thursday (see SIGCSE 2014 Program) from 6:10-7:00 where Rick Adrion (my ECEP friend and co-PI) will be hosting a discussion on state-level change to education policy in support of computing education.  Here’s what we have in mind:

Agenda:

6:10-6:40 Choose Group that is most important to your state (or you). Complete short questionnaire and hand to Group Leader.

Groups:

– Making CS Count

– Getting Computing into K12: curricula, standards, promoting

– K12 Teacher Certification/Licensure

– Teacher Professional Development

– Creating/Expanding State-Based Alliances for CS Ed Reform

Groups will identify 3-4 Action Items and/or Best Practices (30 minutes)

6:40-6:55 Report Out (5 minutes each)

State-Level Advocacy for Computing Education Reform

While it is exciting to see an increasing number of national efforts to reform computing education, such as those led by CSTA, Computing in the Core, ACM, NCWIT, code.org and many others, real change at the state, district and school level requires the active participation of individuals and local organizations to engage policy makers, superintendents and communities. The U.S. education system is highly distributed, with critical decisions pushed more to the community level and less at the national (or even state) level – with large differences between neighboring states. The system is organized along pathways of elementary schools, middle and high schools, community colleges, four-year colleges, and universities. A reform process for improving computing education pathways will take place at multiple levels and state by state. This birds-of-a-feather session will bring together emerging leaders at the state level with representatives from national initiatives to share best practices for implementing change.