During 2022 a small group of CSTA members and others started working together to provide more and better resources to teachers to empower them to include students with disabilities in K-12 CS education.
Full Story
During 2022 a small group of CSTA members and others started working together to provide more and better resources to teachers to empower them to include students with disabilities in K-12 CS education. Approximately 17% of K-12 students in the US have an identified disability under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. In addition, the group wanted to help make the CSTA organization and its activities more accessible to its members with disabilities. The vast majority of these students have the intellectual capacity to succeed in computing courses if inclusive and accessible tools and pedagogy are used. The recent report, “Moving Towards a Vision of Equitable Computer Science: Results of a Landscape Survey of PreK-12 CS Teachers in the United States,” indicated in a study of 2,239 CS teachers that 9% identify as having a disability.In the Fall of 2022, this group called CSAccess became a formal working group within CSTA. As a working group, CSAccess has formed two task forces: one to address accessibility best practices for teachers and another to address the accessibility of CS tools and curricula used in K-12 CS education. CSAccess will also help CSTA staff ensure the 2023 CSTA Virtual Conference and future in-person CSTA conferences are fully accessible.
The CSAccess Working Group is led by Elissa Hozore, the Computer Science Education Specialist for the Maryland State Department of Education. Richard Ladner, Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington, is the CSTA Board Liaison. Currently, the working group reports to the CSTA Executive Director Jake Baskin, but that will change as CSTA staff become available.
If you are interested in joining the CSAccess working group, please fill out this form.
