n January 2008, CSTA launched the CSTA Leadership Cohort. The goal of the cohort is to identify and support two teacher leaders in each state who are working to improve K-12 computer science education. Among other responsibilities, cohort members work in their respective states to establish K-12 computer science as an essential academic discipline. The cohort members participated in CSTA Leadership and Advocacy workshops and have helped to strengthen the CSTA leadership by identifying and building partnerships with appropriate stakeholders, and by working toward organizing local and state chapters of CSTA.
Information about the cohorts can be found on the CSTA web page at:
http://csta.acm.org/Advocacy_Outreach/sub/LeadershipCohort.html
Presently thirty-three states have cohort representatives. Although many of the cohort members have been instrumental in initiating local CSTA chapter formations, many CSTA chapters have been started by teachers like you, non-cohort members that are interested in improving and promoting K-12 CS education. CSTA now has 35 chapters, including two Canadian chapters. You can make a difference. Join your local CSTA Chapter. A list with chapter contact information can be found at:
http://csta.acm.org/About/sub/CSTAChapters.html.
You don’t see a listing for a chapter near you? You can make a difference. Why not take the first step yourself.
If you have the interest, we will help you get started. Send an email with your ideas to:
[email protected].
Join with the cohort members and the current CSTA Chapter members and make a difference!
Fran Trees
CSTA Chapter Liaison
It has attempted to show that complexity classes P and UP are different, making proving the existence of one-way functions and responding to the problem of P versus NP millennium. See it in post “P versus UP” at the address:
http://the-point-of-view-of-frank.blogspot.com/
My children’s school district, Central Bucks School District, in Doylestown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, will be doing away with computer education in the Middle Schools entirely this coming school year. While they do not intend to make any changes to the CORE Curriculum (reading, science, social studies, mathematics, etc.) they have on many occasions told us that they will be incorporating computer technology into the classroom teaching styles of the teachers. There will be no hands-on learning for 7th or 8th grades and computer usage will be through assigned work in the core classes to be done at home. We have been assured that the kids already know more about technology than we, the parents, do and that they are prepared to handle the work. My children have been in the school district for 6 1/2 and 7 1/2 years, respectively, and have not been given any formal instruction in keyboarding or computer applications and will be expected to turn-in assignments using MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. Please feel free to check this information out for yourself. The email address for our school district is: http://www.cbsd.org. We are the third largest school district in the Commonwealth of PA and have been blindsided by our school district administrators with regard to the decision to remove computer education from the curriculum. Your suggestions would be greatly appreciated as we are running-up against a very serious issue once September 2012 begins.