While 10 percent of California’s job market is in the tech sector, only five percent of California high school students are enrolled in computer science courses. The issue is compounded in rural areas and low-income communities: rural schools are half as likely to offer CS courses as urban schools, while those serving low-income communities are three times less likely to offer core CS courses than schools serving higher-income communities. Computer science teaching and learning is happening in every county in California, but there is a lot of work to do to ensure that it is happening equitably.
In light of this data, the California County Boards of Education adopted a statement to signal its commitment at the national CSforAll Summit on Oct. 19:
“The California County Boards of Education commits to building an online toolkit to support California counties and school districts working toward equitable computer science implementation, dedicating a track at our 2021 Annual Conference to equity in computer science education, and sponsoring a CS Helpdesk to provide advice to county administrators on curriculum, instruction, implementation and policy.”
CSforAll’s mission is to make high-quality computer science an integral part of the educational experience of all K-12 students and teachers and to support student pathways to college and career success.
CCBE is making great strides in its commitment to help counties and districts be better able to provide equitable computer science education for all students. The CCBE Computer Science Toolkit is now available online at www.ccbe.us. It provides national and local CS education resources in one place for the first time and hosts new tools and databases like the CS Credential Navigator. The site is divided into sections for Curriculum, Instruction, Implementation and Policy, allowing stakeholders to navigate the resources and find solutions quickly.
The toolkit also features the 2021 CS Landscape Survey and has been a key tool for recruitment and administration of an upcoming training sponsored by CCBE. The SCRIPT Facilitator Training is CSforAll’s framework for writing district-level strategic implementation plans for computer science. CCBE willl bring this one-day workshop to California at no cost on Nov. 10, preparing coordinators at 18 county offices to run SCRIPT workshops in their local areas.
CCBE’s commitment to hosting a CS track at its annual conference in September was made possible by county board members and county administrators from across the state who shared their expertise and passion with conference participants.
Riverside County Office of Education presented “All Students Deserve Access to Computer Science Education,” examining access and enrollment data at the county level to highlight disparities in participation, and to share strategies for increasing teacher capacity and pedagogical content knowledge.
Monterey COE highlighted the connections to math, science and Career Technical Education standards in their session, “Preparing Students for College, Career, and Citizenship through Computer Science.”
Sacramento COE’s “CSforNorCal: Far North COEs Supporting CS Pathways in Small Schools” laid out their ongoing CS implementation strategy, including the particular challenges faced by rural schools and highlighting the role of strategic planning and CSforAll’s SCRIPT framework.
Napa COE presented “Artificial Intelligence in K-12: Teach It! Embrace the Inevitable,” integrating AI into all grade levels, from personal assistants in kindergarten to creating and coding automated systems in high school.
The keynote presentation featured Allison Scott, CEO of the Kapor Center, and Julie Flapan, director of the CS Equity Project at UCLA CenterX, who serve as co-directors of CSforCA. They framed CS education as an equity issue, showing through extensive access and enrollment data that, while access has increased over the last 10 years, female, Black, Latino and Indigenous students remain underserved by CS courses.
The event closed with a Q&A with a panel of county CS coordinators Katherine Goyette (Tulare), Rudy Escobar (Stanislaus) and Stephen Callahan (San Joaquin), who spoke about their priorities and experiences implementing CS equitably in their counties and answered audience questions. All session recordings and resources are included in the online CS Toolkit.
CS Program Advisor Emily Thomforde is available to help your COE understand the CS landscape in your county, connect to free resources, access professional development or answer any questions. She can be reached by email at helpmedoctorem@gmail.com or by phone at 408-823-9346.