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Implementation Considerations
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Implementation: How do I get started?

The following action steps were designed to guide Schools of Education as they create and implement CS teacher education programs.

  1. Build Your Team
  1. Build a team for action and follow through
  2. Determine which faculty will teach or assist in the program and what resources/PD they need
  1. Determine Requirements
  1. Find out what is required to teach CS in your state
  2. Identify which teachers are being prepared and what they are being prepared for
  3. Be aware of the teacher competency requirements for teaching CS
  4. Identify the CS standards and courses/content teachers are expected to teach
  1. Plan Your Program
  1. Design your CS teacher education program
  2. Other considerations and challenges

BUILD YOUR TEAM

Build a team for action and follow through

Preparing computer science teachers is a collaborative effort that will require a team approach. Every member of the team should be prepared to engage with the work required and follow through on tasks in a timely manner. Creating a program requires inclusion from a diverse group of stakeholders, including:

There are different reasons that might motivate people to join the team, including recruitment of CS majors or future teachers to the university, broadening participation in computing, and increased opportunities for research and service (see more: Should Computer Science Be Required in K-12?,  NCWIT why schools should teach CS). The CS Visions Toolkit from CSforALL may help both education and CS faculty find their “why” for teaching computer science.

Determine which faculty will teach or assist in the program and what resources/PD they need

Different faculty bring different strengths to teaching computer science. Education faculty have deep knowledge of how to teach and the policy requirements for certification but may not have content knowledge. CS faculty have deep content knowledge but likely have little pedagogical training. Determining what classes will be required and who can teach them is the first step. For example, CS faculty will likely teach content courses. While faculty develop skills, coaching or co-teaching classes between CS and Education faculty can be a mutually supportive approach to ensuring well-prepared computer science teachers. 

Education faculty may desire professional development in computer science. CS faculty at Frostburg State University developed a Canvas course to introduce CS concepts and practices aligned to state standards as a workshop that was offered virtually not only to education faculty, but also to local K12 teachers. Many other organizations provide professional development to the K12 community which education faculty and students could join. Here are some opportunities and resources to explore:

DETERMINE REQUIREMENTS

Determine what the requirements are to teach CS in your state

Depending on your state, there are different requirements to teach CS. Each state also has different labels for those who are allowed to teach CS. We have utilized the definitions created by CSforED group, but note that different resources use different terms. We will use the following for consistency throughout the Guidance for Schools of Education.

You can find information on your state requirements using these resources:

Identify which teachers are being prepared and what they are being prepared for

No matter what the policy context is for your state, there are options for creating a program that will align with your state’s policy and your program goals. Coordinate with your state’s policy makers and determine which approach would work best for your state context.

Alternative approaches such as microcredentials or non-credit courses may be an option, especially in states where accrediting bodies may be concerned that there will not be enough students in programs to justify their creation, particularly for secondary CS. They are also a potential solution for already full teacher education programs that are not able to add CS courses. Code.org’s Advocacy Coalition released a report, Micro-credentials: Addressing Certification and Professional Learning in Computer Science, that provides an overview of microcredentials, organizations providing them in CS, and how states are piloting their use. Some states are also exploring allowing select professional development opportunities to qualify teachers for a particular course, e.g. College Board-endorsed PD for Advanced Placement CS courses. Additionally, some states such as Texas and Arkansas have provided incentives for teachers to become qualified in order to address teacher shortages and changing requirements.

Your state may not currently have any licensure or certification requirements, but there are still actions you can take. Consider how you might provide introductory CS experiences for all of your education majors and/or targeted experiences for those most likely to teach CS (elementary, secondary math and business, media specialists, etc.) Also, there may already be existing efforts underway in your state. Check if your state is a member of the Expanding Computing Education Pathways (ECEP) Alliance, and connect with ECEP state leaders. The Code.org Advocacy Coalition also includes state level partners. Reach out to state policy makers, especially at the Department of Education, to support the development of licensure requirements.

Be aware of the teacher competency requirements for teaching CS

Depending on your state, there are different ways to demonstrate competency in teaching computer science. Two of the most common are approved programs and licensure exams.

In some states such as Maryland and Nebraska, teacher education programs certify that their graduates have demonstrated competency with state-determined requirements through coursework or a final portfolio.

Praxis and Pearson offer CS licensure exams, and states such as Texas and Georgia have state-specific exams. If a licensure exam is the method your students will likely use to demonstrate competency, carefully review the exam’s requirements and how you might build that content into your program. Both the Praxis and Pearson exams are designed primarily for secondary CS content, however some states require them for K-12 licensure, therefore requiring elementary teachers to learn Java programming. Also be aware that these exams likely do not address everything that is crucial for high quality CS education, such as inclusive pedagogy, so your program will need to go beyond the examination requirements.

Identify the CS standards and courses/content teachers are expected to teach

The standards for students may define the knowledge CS teachers are expected to know at various grade bands. Many states use the CSTA K-12 Computer Science Standards and the K-12 Computer Science Framework to guide computer science standards development. Code.org’s Standards tab of the State Tracking 9 Policies indicates which states have adopted standards and provides a link to the state’s department of education information.

Other states define what teachers are expected to know by specifying the courses each license is qualified to teach. Teachers with an elementary “multiple subject” credential are prepared to teach all subjects, including computer science. At the opposite end of the spectrum, states such as Nebraska specify which licenses are authorized to teach each course (see: scope & sequence). While Nebraska’s license is K-12, other states have an elementary and middle school only licensure (e.g. Arizona, Connecticut, Hawaii, and Iowa).

PLAN YOUR PROGRAM

Design your CS teacher education program:

To effectively teach a particular subject, teachers need pedagogical knowledge (PK), content knowledge (CK), and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) [add Shulman citation]. The CSTA Standards for CS Teachers outline the content knowledge (Standard 1. CS Concepts and Skills) and the PK and PCK needed to teach CS (Standards 2 - 5). Schools of Education will need to examine their current programs, including where and how they introduce and reinforce CK, PK, and PCK for teacher candidates. This will require determining which future teachers you will prepare based on the state endorsement requirements and the existing teacher education programs being offered. You will need to identify which teachers you plan to prepare (elementary, secondary, PK-12, etc) and whether it is a stand-alone or supplemental credential. The CSTA Case Studies provide examples of a variety of CS education programs and how they are designed to support teacher candidates in gaining the knowledge needed to teach K-12 computer science and can guide your thinking. For example:

Other considerations and challenges:

As you plan your program, you will want to consider more than just the courses and content that students will need to teach computer science. Many institutional and state approval processes will require demonstrating the cost of the program, that there will be sufficient enrollment, that there is a job market for graduates, and other factors. Following are factors to consider as part of your program design and discuss with your guiding team.

Program Design Considerations at Georgia State University

The Computer Science Endorsement at Georgia State adds on certification in the field of computer science to a teacher’s certification in another field. As an add-on endorsement, the program was designed to accommodate the schedules of inservice teachers, but preservice teachers can also complete it. The Georgia standards are for P-12 education, so all educators who complete the program are prepared to teach computing in elementary, middle, and high school. No prior knowledge of computing is required to enroll in the program.

The trade-offs we considered while designing the program: The first big decision we had to make was how many courses and credit-hours the program would include. Our primary audience was in-service teachers, so we knew we wanted to streamline the program as much as possible--for time and monetary reasons. Because the certification is P-12, we also had to prepare teachers for content that they would not teach (e.g., elementary and high school teachers learn the same content). Thus, we decided to offer only 4 courses that would provide foundational knowledge. One course each for elementary, middle, and high school content, and a CS instructional methods course. We encourage teachers in the program to attend additional PD or spend time learning curriculum for any particular course that they will teach.

The other major trade-off that we considered while designing our program was whether to offer it face-to-face or online. An online program would allow us to serve a larger portion of the state and be more flexible for in-service teachers. Online programs, however, can be socially isolating, and they can compound technical difficulties by layering an unfamiliar online course on top of unfamiliar technical content. During the first year of the program, we decided to have the first two courses that are taught during the fall and spring online because they are during in-service teachers’ school year and are less technically demanding. The two summer courses were taught face-to-face to provide more support during  the programming-heavy course. However, we found that coming to downtown Atlanta multiple days a week was prohibitive for many teachers, and we changed the course to completely online for the second year.

Consider how the program impacts your accreditation

If your program is accredited through national programs such as CAEP and AAQEP, you will want to keep their requirements, including the evidence each requires, in mind as you design the program. The CSTA Standards for CS Teachers can be used to inform program level outcomes and its accompanying resources include suggestions for activities that may provide assessment opportunities for evidence to meet outcomes. This planning should be done at the beginning of your program development to avoid last minute adjustments to align assessments and gather evidence.

Consider how you will recruit students

Producing a significant number of teachers who are prepared to teach computer science has been very slow. Most programs and courses have fewer than ten teacher candidates enrolled. While colleges are now producing more CS majors, enrollments in many education programs have been steadily declining. Most graduates with a CS degree are focused on preparing for a career in industry rather than education but may be motivated by the social impact of a career in education. Ensuring there is sufficient enrollment in programs and courses may be a key factor for institutional approval and for accreditation by state entities. Creative solutions could include offering programs online to reach larger geographic regions, offering courses that are cross-listed at the undergraduate and graduate levels (e.g. CS Methods), offering blended programs that allow students from satellite campuses to attend, offering programs that support career retraining for industry workers to become teachers, and other strategies.

Consider how you can increase the diversity of CS teachers

Teacher education programs face challenges attracting racial and ethinic minorities to their programs, and this issue is even more significant in CS. Strategies and approaches to broadening the participation of women and Black and Hispanic people in CS education are critical. If we do not have diverse educators teaching CS, we lose an opportunity to have diverse role models for K-12 students. We need resources and strategies for Schools of Education to recruit women of color (mainly Black and Latino) in their programs, in general, and in CS in particular. For more information on who currently teaches computer science, see this 2020 CS Ed Week webinar on The State of CS Teachers, with a full report to be released by CSTA and the Kapor Center in spring 2021.