CSTA Announces Public Review Period for K-12 Computer Science Standards
New York, NY (PRWEB) February 17, 2016 -- CSTA invites teachers, curriculum supervisors, administrators, business leaders and the broad education and business communities to review the K-12 Computer Science Standards and offer feedback.
During the past several decades there has been an increased awareness of the value of learning computer science in K-12 schools and more interest in making the subject available to all students. No matter what a student’s ultimate field of study or profession, no other subject opens as many doors as computer science.
CSTA first developed the CS Standards in 2011. These standards were based on the 2003 Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Model Curriculum, which ACM and CSTA updated in 2006. The goal of the K-12 CS Standards was to create a set of learning standards designed to provide the foundation for a complete computer science curriculum and its implementation at the K–12 level. Unfortunately, CS concepts and courses have not kept pace with other academic areas in the United States. Furthermore, the general public could better understand what computer science is, how it affects students’ educational experiences and how its availability to all students could address the shortage of computer scientists.
A task force, which was formed in August 2015, developed the draft version of the revised standards. The task force includes K-12 CS educators, higher education educators and administrators. The task force’s work included reviewing substantial material to create the revised standards, including: previous public input on the 2011 CSTA K-12 CS Standards, teacher input, the K-12 CS Framework, other organization’s standards, writing practices and international standards.
“These standards can be used in numerous ways--from creating new curriculum to modifying current curriculum to improving instruction,” said CSTA Executive Director Dr. Mark R. Nelson. “It is so important that we hear from a wide variety of people and organizations who have a stake in CS education. These standards are critically important for K-12 educators to building and delivering high-quality CS curriculum.”
The public review process is now open and ends Thursday, March 3 at 11:59 PM PST. Instructions for submitting online feedback can be found at http://www.csteachers.org/?2016Standards. The standards review is an ongoing process. The task force will meet in March to review the feedback from the public and to further enhance the draft revised standards. Another public review will take place in Spring 2016.
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About The Computer Science Teachers Association
The Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) is a membership organization that supports and promotes the teaching of computer science and other computing disciplines. The Association of Computing Machinery founded CSTA as part of its commitment to K-12 computer science education. CSTA provides opportunities for K–12 teachers and students to better understand the computing disciplines and to more successfully prepare themselves to teach and learn.
Stacey Finkel, Computer Science Teachers Association, http://www.csteachers.org/, +1 (703) 304-1377, [email protected]
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