I’m proud to announce that CSTA was awarded a $10.5 million grant from the United States Department of Education to bring Expanded CSPDWeek (E_CSPD_Wk) events to over 2,000 K-12 computer science teachers in South Carolina and Indiana over the next five years, impacting over 50,000 students.
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I’m proud to announce that CSTA was awarded a $10.5 million grant from the United States Department of Education to bring Expanded CSPDWeek (E_CSPD_Wk) events to over 2,000 K-12 computer science teachers in South Carolina and Indiana over the next five years, impacting over 50,000 students.
E_CSPD_Wk will provide teachers with opportunities to participate in professional learning opportunities aligned to the CSTA Standards for Computer Science Teachers and teacher’s self-identified areas for growth. Led by the local CSTA chapters in each state, CS teachers will collaboratively build strands of professional learning aligned with the most common entry points to teaching CS: new teachers that are new to CS, new teachers with prior CS experience, experienced teachers that are new to CS, and experienced CS teachers. This model will allow teachers to participate over multiple years as they continue to grow and refine their craft, with stipends available to compensate for their time in the program.
Implementation will begin in South Carolina this year, and teachers should keep an eye out for communications from CSTA South Carolina with details on how to participate coming soon. Professional development providers that would like to be considered for a strand should submit their programs to the CSTA Professional Development Committee for review at csteachers.org/pd.
We are excited to partner closely with the state departments of education in South Carolina and Indiana on this project, two states that are focused on increasing access to computer science for all students. Through this project, we will specifically focus on teachers that work with students who are often excluded from CS courses, including young women, rural students, students at Title I schools, and students of color.
The research and evaluation for this project will be led by Dr. Monica Sweet and the Center for Research on Educational Equity, Assessment and Teaching Excellence (CREATE) at the University of California San Diego. We look forward to working together to understand the impact of this work.