This is the Way

Posted on January 27, 2020 by Anthony Owen J.D., M.S.E.

“Don’t tell me what things look like. Tell me what things are.”

Yes, I know I just mixed quotes, but let’s get to the point, and it is not to discuss The Child (AKA Baby Yoda). This blog was supposed to come out around the first of December, but I requested that I be able to delay it until after Computer Science Education Week, because I knew that I would want to highlight our announcements during that week and also speak to the state’s 5-year report on the #ARKidsCanCode / #CSforAR Initiative that was just released in early January.

CS Education Week 2019 (CSedWeek) was again a great success in Arkansas. In the past years, we had made it a point to make one announcement each day of the week. This year we started early, with a Gubernatorial kickoff on Friday, December 6th, and had multiple announcements each day of the following week. While I will not discuss them all in this blog, I invite you to go view the full listing and details at http://bit.ly/ARCSedWeek. However, I do want to highlight a few of the announcements.

One of the reasons for Gov. Asa Hutchinson wanting to personally acknowledge CSedWeek by means of a press conference, was that he, by executive order, reestablished our advisory CS taskforce. The newly titled Computer Science and Cybersecurity Task Force, is the natural progression of the Arkansas Computer Science and Public Technology Task Force, that was established in 2015 by legislation and sunset in 2016. The original task force provided our state and my office with the guidance and suggestions that have shaped our computer science (CS) initiative over the past five years. The reestablished CS task force will be chaired by Gov. Hutchinson’s Deputy Chief of Staff Mr. Bill Gossage, who also carried and championed the 2015 computer science legislation that established the mandate that all Arkansas high schools offer CS, is held up as a model by Code.org, and put Arkansas on the right pathway to lead this crucial educational initiative. This new task force, which had its first meeting on January 8, 2020, will “provide guidance on improving and establishing updated large-scale goals and strategies; industry pathways and relevant certifications for major areas of computer science and computing; post-secondary alignment strategies and goals; work-based learning opportunities for students; teacher credentialing; correct placement and focus on data sciences and cybersecurity in curricula; potential funding usage and future needs; and outreach and development of educational materials.”

In addition, our office made two large scale announcements with three of our post-secondary institutions and other partners. The first was that we would be partnering with the Arch Ford Education Service Cooperative’s Virtual Arkansas division, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and the University of Central Arkansas at Conway to develop a three-year cyber security curriculum and course pathway that will be available to Arkansas public school students at the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year. The second was that the Arkansas Department of Education, Arkansas State University, and the Arkansas Public School Resource Center would partner to provide a statewide online coding curriculum starting with the fall 2020 semester. The first offering of its type to the high school students of Arkansas, the UpSkill program is designed to support the Governor’s initiative on computer science skills. The course structure leads students through a nine-month curriculum that prepares them to receive a certificate in Swift coding.

Our state and my office again demonstrates our commitment to CSTA. Not only are we continuing to fund CSTA+ membership for Arkansas educators that are CS Certified, but we again increased our commitment to the CSTA Annual Conference. This year we are increasing the number of available sponsorships to 35 and doubling the reimbursement amount to $2000. Arkansas, and I personally, place a high value on the benefits CSTA and its annual conference provides to its members; this announcement renews and puts funding behind our commitment and support.

The last announcement I want to highlight before I get to the recently released report is the creation of the Arkansas Students of Distinction in Computer Science Recognition Program. Through this program, up to 50 public, private, and homeschool, students currently in grades 11 or 12 will be recognized for their efforts in computer science education.

“Cracking the Code: How Arkansas Became a National Leader in Computer Science & Computing” (http://bit.ly/2020CSforARReport) is Arkansas’s 5-year report on the history, efforts, successes, and future of our state initiative. When we started internally discussing the need for such a report, I wondered and asked aloud, why wouldn’t we just wait on the new task force report? I am now happy that my leadership pushed back on my question and helped me see that the audience for these two reports is not the same. Once I was onboard, as many of you know about me, I couldn’t just do it in a straightforward fashion… we all have enough “governmental looking” reports to drown in. So, when I started working with Eric Rob & Issac (https://ericrobisaac.com/) of Little Rock to help us create the report, I told Rob in an early meeting, I want something “different,” and let me tell you they produced something that met that request.

I was sitting in my office one day about a week after that first meeting, and Rob asked if he could stop by and show me something. I knew we were going to talk layout, but what he brought me, I couldn’t have imagined. He first showed me a more straightforward layout proposal, which was wonderful, but looked like any of 100 other governmental reports. Then he said, “I have something else to show you, but I want to know first how crazy you want to go on this.” I responded, “let’s see it.” What he pulled out of his bag looked like a paper computer complete with logo stickers, scuff marks, and other telltale signs that this “computer” belongs to our community. I immediately fell in love with it. As we talked about how the sections could be designed, I got more excited. Toward the end of the meeting, Rob looked at me and said, “So which one are we going with? Or do you need to get back with me?” Rob knows I have leadership that I have to answer to; however, this is one of those times I took a gamble and decided instantly to go with the “out there” option. I am happy to report, I still have a job, and my leadership also loves the design. While our office provided all of the information, Rob’s team did a great job in turning that extremely long text dense document into something that is informative but also fun to digest.

So, what does all this mean and why am I sharing it? Well first, as I said in one of my previous blogs, I do enjoy bragging on my state and our initiative, but it is more than that. It is meant as an example and challenge to the greater CS education community leaders and decision makers. We can not stop! We can not be content! We must continue to engage our community partners, look to expanding our efforts beyond K-12, and press on with the “new”, the “out there”, the “crazy”, and the “different.” Otherwise, this will just become another fad that fades into the ever increasing list of educational initiatives that like a sparkler in the night, flares up, burns brightly for a time, but then as quickly dies and, to the viewer, leaves the scene darker than it was before. “I have spoken.”

Honoring CSTA’s Board of Directors

Posted on July 29, 2019 by Jake Baskin

CSTA is proud to have a teacher-led Board of Directors that is focused on creating a strong environment to support our members. For the past 17 months, I’ve worked alongside these board members to reshape CSTA for growth through the launch of CSTA+ membership, introduction of a new website and member experience and expansion of the CSTA Annual Conference.

As they rotate off of the CSTA Board of Directors, I’d like to thank these outgoing members for their years of dedication and service:

David Benedetto, At-Large Representative

Doug Bergman, 9–12 Representative

Bryan Twarek, School District Representative

I’d like to congratulate K–8 Representative Vicky Sedgwick on her re-election to another term and to Jane Prey and Bobby Schnabel on their re-appointments. I’m glad that we’ll be able to continue the work that we’ve started together.

With change comes new faces and fresh ideas to CSTA’s Board of Directors. Welcome to our newest members:

Art Lopez, 9–12 Representative

Michelle Friend, At-Large Representative

Dan Blier, District Representative

As we begin a new fiscal year, I look forward to continuing to work with the Board to further CSTA’s mission.

Jennifer Rosato elected as incoming chair of CSTA’s Board of Directors

Posted on July 19, 2018 by Fred Martin

Dear CSTA community,

I am delighted to inform you that at the CSTA summer board meeting on July 11, 2018, Jennifer Rosato was elected as incoming chair of the board.

Jennifer Rosato, CSTA chair-elect

Jennifer (“Jen”) Rosato is Director of the Center for Computer Science Education at the College of St. Scholastica and an Assistant Professor in Computer Information Systems. She leads the Mobile CSP project, including curriculum and professional development for the AP CS Principles course. Rosato also works on teacher education initiatives, including integrating computer science and computational thinking in pre-service programs as well as a graduate certificate program for current teachers.

Jen began her term as incoming chair immediately upon the election results being announced; at next year’s summer board meeting, she will become chair and I (Fred Martin) will become past-chair!

Also at the board meeting:

Newly elected board members Kristeen Shabram (K–8 Representative) and Amy Fox (9–12 Representative) began their 2-year terms.
Elections were held for 1-year terms on the Executive Committee. Serving for 2018–19 will be Anthony Owen, Bryan (“BT”) Twarek, and Jane Prey.

Our organization is fortunate to have such accomplished, dedicated, and generous volunteers to help make CSTA great.

Thank you to all CSTA board members, and a special congratulations and thank-you to Jen Rosato.

Yours,
Fred Martin, Board Chair

Announcing the winners of the 2018 Board of Directors elections

Posted on April 13, 2018 by Fred Martin

Dear CSTA community,

I would like to congratulate the winners of CSTA’s 2018 Board of Directors elections.

We are delighted to welcome new board members Kristeen Shabram (K-8) and Amy Fox (9-12). We welcome continuing Board members Miles Berry (International), Anthony Owen (State Dept), and Michelle Lagos De Javier (At-Large). And we owe a big debt of gratitude to Chinma Uche, who is rotating off the board. Thank you, Chinma!

For more about our new and continuing board members, see http://www.csteachers.org/ElectionResults2018.

CS for All Means All Y’All

Posted on October 23, 2017 by Deborah Seehorn

Right about now you should be thinking how great it is to be a K-12 CS educator. If not, let me give you a few reasons. How terrific it was to hear that President Donald Trump had re-purposed $200 million dollars at the US Department of Education to support STEM Education, including K-12 computer science education programs. Women, minorities, and students in rural communities will particularly benefit from this presidential memorandum. That’s exactly what we are talking about when we champion “CSforAll.” And to sweeten the pot, a coalition of tech businesses including Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Lockheed Martin, and many others agreed to give $300 million spread over the next five years to boost K-12 computer science programs. So, it really is a great time to be a CS educator!

If you need more proof that it is a great time to be a CS educator, on October 16 and 17, over 170 organizations made new commitments to support CSforAll students. These pledges were celebrated by a stakeholder community of educators and other supporters at the 2017 CSforAll Summit in St. Louis, Missouri. You can view those commitments in this pdf Fact Sheet to see how many of our long-time friends and supporters are in the list and how many, many more you might not have known about. CSTA made a commitment to continue to promote the new CSTA K-12 CS Standards broadly so that all states and school systems have rigorous models for their own standards and to work with 3-5 CSTA chapters to help them establish their CS program while developing state standards and supporting CS teachers. Did you make a new commitment to support CSforAll students? If not, why not do one now? After all, it’s a great time to be a K-12 CS educator!

And, speaking of commitments, have you made a pledge for 2017 CS Education Week? CS Ed Week is December 4 – 10, 2017. What a great time to champion CS education, celebrate Grace Hopper’s birthday (December 9), and introduce students to computer science. It’s a great week for elementary/middle school educators to partner with high school students and educators to show the younger students how great CS is and to allow the older students to share their enthusiasm. This year, CSTA is partnering with Family Code Night to encourage parents to join their children in coding at their local school—another great way to interest younger students in CS education. Plan to participate in Family Code Night (or even better to help organize Family Code Night events in your community). After all, it’s a great time to be a K-12 CS educator. And, as we say in the south, All means All Y’all!

We know you are all doing spectacular work in your own schools, school systems, and CSTA chapters. We look forward to reading about what you are doing to promote and bring CS education to all students.

Deborah Seehorn , CSTA Interim Executive Director

DRAFT 2016 CSTA K-12 CS Standards: We Need Your Feedback—Again!

Posted on April 5, 2016 by admin

Much excitement and activity continues to take place in the K-12 Computer Science Education space. The K-12 Computer Science Framework and the Computer Science for All initiative started by the White House both continue to evolve. Many states and school systems are working to implement computer science into their curriculum. And, the CSTA K-12 CS Standards Revision Task force continues to refine the draft 2016 CSTA K-12 CS Standards.

Thanks to all of you who took time to provide us feedback on the draft 2016 CSTA K-12 Computer Science Standards during the first review period. We received many great recommendations and comments about the standards. The CSTA K-12 CS Standards Revision Task Force members met in person on March 5 and 6 to read and analyze the feedback that we received. They have been diligently working to revise the first draft of the 2016 CSTA K-12 CS Standards to reflect the feedback. The second DRAFT of the 2016 CSTA K-12 CS Standards is now ready for public review and feedback. We need your assistance once again!

Please take some time to review the revised 2016 draft standards and complete the 2016 CSTA K-12 CS Standards Feedback Form. This will provide the CSTA Standards Revision Task Force members with additional constructive feedback that will assist us as we seek to refine the standards and make them most useful for K-12 educators. You will have the opportunity to give us detailed feedback on individual standards in each of the grade levels (Level 1, Grades K-5; Level 2, Grades 6-8; Level 3A, Grades 9-10 (for all students); Level 3B Grades 11-12 (enhanced standards for students who wish to further study CS). You will also be able to provide feedback on all the standards for a grade level within a concept area.

Feedback for this second review period will be accepted from April 6 through April 20, 2016. The task force members will analyze this feedback and further refine the standards as needed. CSTA is committed to an iterative process that allows multiple drafts and revisions before publication. Our goal is to release the interim 2016 standards at the 2016 CSTA Annual Conference.

We want your feedback. We need your assistance. Please thoughtfully complete the CSTA K-12 CS Standards Revision Feedback Form. This second round of feedback on the standards will be accepted until April 20, 2016.

Thank you for your time, expertise, and enthusiasm in supporting K-12 CS education.

Deborah Seehorn, CSTA Board of Directors Past Chair & CSTA K-12 CS Standards Revision Task Force Co-Chair

Tammy Pirmann, CSTA Board of Directors District Representative & CSTA K-12 CS Standards Revision Task Force Co-Chair

Website Links

Computer Science for All https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/01/30/computer-science-all

K-12 CS Framework http://k12cs.org/

2016 CSTA K-12 CS Standards Revision Task Force http://www.csteachers.org/?StandardsTaskForce

CSTA K-12 CS Standards Revision Process http://www.csteachers.org/?StandardsProcess

2016 CSTA K-12 CS Standards Feedback Form http://www.csteachers.org/?SubmitYourFeedback

2016 CSTA Annual Conference http://csta.acm.org/ProfessionalDevelopment/sub/CSTAConference.html.

DRAFT 2016 CSTA K-12 CS Standards: We need your feedback!

Posted on February 17, 2016 by Deborah Seehorn

No one can doubt that it is an exciting and busy time to be a K-12 computer science educator: an announcement from the White House about the new CS for All initiative, a new K-12 CS Framework under construction, an emphasis on cybersecurity education in the K-12 classroom, new curriculum products, new computer science standards in Arkansas, Florida, and Massachusetts (to name a few states), computer science for all New York City students, and professional development opportunities for CS educators. Scarcely a day goes by in the news/media without some mention of K-12 computer science education and what it should look like.

The CSTA K-12 CS Standards Revision Task Force members have been diligently working to revise the 2011 CSTA K-12 CS Standards to ensure they are current, valid, and the best they can be. The task force members very much appreciate all of you who took the time to provide us with input on the 2011 CSTA K-12 CS Standards during the public feedback period in September – October 2015. Your input, along with the draft K-12 CS Framework and practices, standards from other states and countries, and related national standards informed the task force members as they revised, deleted, and added to the 2011 CSTA K-12 CS Standards. You may view the standards development process on the CSTA Standards Webpage. The first DRAFT of the 2016 CSTA K-12 CS Standards is ready for public review and feedback. We need your assistance once again!

Please take a little time to review the revised standards and complete the 2016 CSTA K-12 CS Standards Feedback Form. This will provide the CSTA Standards Revision Task Force members with constructive feedback that will assist us as we seek to refine the standards and make them most useful for K-12 educators. You will have the opportunity to give us detailed feedback on individual standards in each of the grade levels (Level 1, Grades K-5; Level 2, Grades 6-8, Level 3A, Grades 9-10), Level 3B (Grades 11-12). You will also have the opportunity to provide feedback on all the standards for a grade level within a concept area. (The draft K-12 CS Framework Concepts are Computing Devices & Systems, Networks & Communication, Programs & Algorithms, Data & Information, and Impacts of Computing.)

Feedback for this initial review period will be accepted from February 16 through March 3, 2016. The task force members will analyze this feedback and refine the standards. CSTA is committed to an iterative process that allows multiple drafts and revisions before publication. We anticipate another review period sometime in the spring of 2016, as the project budget allows. Our goal is to release the revised standards at the 2016 CSTA Annual Conference.

We want your feedback. We need your assistance. Please thoughtfully complete the CSTA K-12 CS Standards Revision Feedback Form. This initial feedback on the standards will be accepted until March 3, 2016.

Thank you for your time, expertise, and enthusiasm in supporting K-12 CS education.

Deborah Seehorn
CSTA Board of Directors Past Chair
CSTA K-12 CS Standards Revision Task Force Co-Chair

Tammy Pirmann
CSTA Board of Directors District Representative
CSTA K-12 CS Standards Revision Task Force Co-Chair

Website Links

Computer Science for All https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/01/30/computer-science-all

K-12 CS Framework http://k12cs.org/

2016 CSTA K-12 CS Standards Revision Task Force http://www.csteachers.org/?StandardsTaskForce

CSTA K-12 CS Standards Revision Process http://www.csteachers.org/?StandardsProcess

2016 CSTA K-12 CS Standards Feedback Form http://www.csteachers.org/?SubmitYourFeedback

2016 CSTA Annual Conference http://csta.acm.org/ProfessionalDevelopment/sub/CSTAConference.html.

2016: The Year of CS Education

Posted on January 30, 2016 by Mark Nelson

A Prediction Comes True…

When asked for a New Year’s prediction a few weeks ago, I responded that 2016 would be the Year of Computer Science Education. I did not anticipate just how accurate that prediction would turn out to be just 30 days later. And it appears that we are just getting started, thanks to the incredible support and commitment of the White House and this Administration on behalf of CS education and CS teachers.

CS education is about students. On January 12, as he began to speak to national priorities, President Barack Obama led with CS Education. He said that, “In the coming years, we should build on that progress, by … offering every student the hands-on computer science and math classes that make them job-ready on day one.” As Executive Director for one of the first CS teacher member organizations, it was an exciting moment to hear the President lead off with a statement so aligned to our members’ profession.

CS education is about access. On January 20, the White House announced the Champions of Change for Computer Science Education. I was thrilled to see recipients like Jane Margolis whose book, Stuck in the Shallow End: Education, Race and Computing, motivated me to pursue this position several months ago. The recipients of the honor included a diverse and deserving collection of individuals working to improve access to computer science education.

CS education is about collaboration. Then today, January 30, I was again both excited and awed, as the White House announced the Computer Science for All initiative (#CSForAll)—the President’s plan to give all students across the country the chance to learn computer science in school. It is a plan with aggressive goals, bipartisan support, and multifaceted commitments from an amazing array of participants spanning federal and state agencies, corporations, non-profit organizations and academic institutions, school districts, and teachers.

CS education is about teachers. It is clear that many more exciting announcements are to come. On behalf of the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) and the teachers it represents, I thank the Administration for its “above and beyond support” for CS education and recognizing that providing access to quality CS education to all students requires developing and supporting CS teachers. I am also appreciative to the Administration for creating mechanisms to enable CSTA to actively participate and engage in the events leading up to today’s announcement. CSTA is excited to be involved and contributing to this collaborative effort.

…And CS Education is Just Getting Started.

CSTA recently developed a new 10-year vision, supported by the first of three strategic plans. The themes of students, access, collaboration, and teachers underpin that framework. For the next three years our primary efforts will focus on teacher professional development, programs related to our big IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access), and maturing our association practices. These three priorities are supported by a set of five strategic levers and a range of specific measures and activities.

As part of CSTA’s commitment to #CSForALL, we will pursue and implement a new professional development (PD) model for CS Teachers that includes:

A developmental assessment with personalized roadmap to help teachers focus PD on skill development needs and programs that could address those needs.
Hybrid (online + in person) PD experiences to increase access to PD for teachers.
A digital portfolio or digital badging model to enable competency-based micro-credentialing. This provides a means for teachers to demonstrate CS skills and track their progress toward a master-CS teacher status.

We are on track to pilot some of the above elements as early as this spring.

This year CSTA will establish a Diversity Educational Leadership Program (DELP). DELP will provide PD to cohorts of teacher-leaders coming from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds in CS. The goals of DELP are to improve access to leadership and development opportunities for underrepresented teacher segments, support a growing network of effective teacher-leaders and CS advocates in their classrooms and communities, and increase the visible pool of diverse candidates for leadership positions in CSTA and other K-12 CS organizations.

CSTA is also stepping up its own capabilities, such as going live with the “alpha” version of our new member management system this past week. In addition to a new website that is mobile-friendly, and easier to navigate and update, we will have tools to enable more members to engage and volunteer in activities of the association. There will be new tools to support chapters. New tools to support advocacy or outreach among segments of members. There will be new ways for members to communicate with each other and new resources to help make #CSForAll a reality.

Later this spring CSTA will unveil new branding, as we evolve into CSTeachers.org – the member organization for K-12 computer science teachers. With 22,000 members across 130 countries, with 62 local member chapters, and as founding partners of other CS educational organizations, like Code.org, NCWIT, and TeachCS, we will continue to seek out and engage in opportunities to collaborate that include CS teachers and further enable access to quality computer science education for all students.

Getting Engaged in the Future of K-12 CS Education

These and many of our other planned initiatives, such as a series of PSAs and content to promote awareness and understanding of what CS is, link back to the themes and priorities identified by the White House as part of #CSForAll: Students, Access, Collaboration, and Teachers. Getting there will require innovation, entrepreneurship, collaboration and support from a great variety of organizations and individuals. CSTA greatly appreciates the work of this Administration which has elevated CS education and the needs of CS teachers to a national priority. We look forward to the great works that will come out of the current #CSForAll commitments, and for those that will follow.

2016 is going to be a great year for K-12 CS Education. Please keep following #CSForAll and #CSTA on Twitter for more developments or reach out to CSTA if you are a CS teacher or organization who would like to be involved in our evolution.

About CSTA: The Computer Science Teacher’s Association (CSTA) is a member-based organization founded in 2004 by ACM, the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society. CSTA’s mission is to empower, engage, and advocate for K-12 CS teachers worldwide.

CSTA Board of Directors Election (part 2)

Posted on January 12, 2016 by Dave Reed

As a follow-up to the reminder about the CSTA Board of Directors election, here are some notes from the Nominations & Elections Committee.

We apologize if any candidates have had trouble submitting applications or experienced delays in receiving acknowledgements. CSTA is currently transitioning to a new association management system (AMS) and had some related technical issues for a period. If you have any problems in the future, please contact nominations@csta-hq.org or customerservice@csta-hq.org.
There are five open positions up for election in 2016. Two other positions, School District Representative and Teacher Education Representative, were scheduled to also be open this year. This would have resulted in seven of ten elected Board positions being open at once. In situations where 2/3 or more of the positions are open, the Nominations & Elections Committee is charged with extending one or more positions by one year to ensure Board continuity. No Board member can have his or her term extended more than once.
In case you were on the fence about applying for the Board, here are answers to five of the most common questions that potential candidates ask:Q: How much work is involved in being a Board member?
A: You have probably seen the phrase “the CSTA Board is a working board” in several places. What this means is that members of the Board are expected to help carry out the business of the organization – not just advise or supervise. This includes two face-to-face board meetings, one held in conjunction with the CSTA Annual Conference and another held in the late fall. While these meetings are packed and productive, most of the Board’s business is conducted throughout the year by committees, with individuals working from home and coordinating via phone conferences. The time commitment can vary by task, e.g., the work conducted by the Elections & Nominations Committee is concentrated around setting up and running the annual elections, and is light during other times of the year. On average, I would guess that the workload averages out to 2-3 hours per week.Q: Are Board members expected to cover their own travel expenses to meetings?
A: No, expenses for travel are reimbursed (within reason) following CSTA’s travel policy guidelines. This includes travel, hotel, and meals at Board meetings. It also includes expenses related to attending the CSTA Annual Conference, since Board members are expected to attend this event and help out by proctoring sessions and assisting with registration. A copy of the travel policy is provided to all newly elected Board members.

Q: Why are there different positions on the Board, such as 9-12 Representative and At-Large Representative?
A: The mission of CSTA is a broad one, promoting K-12 CS education and supporting the interests and professional development of our 22,000+ members. It is essential that the Board have a diversity of perspectives and experiences to address the issues and challenges that arise in the organization’s business. Each position has requirements to ensure that key perspectives are represented on the Board. For example, the 9-12 Representative is required to be a “9–12 classroom teacher who is currently teaching computer science at the high school level.” Once on the Board, all members are equal in status and welcome to contribute to all initiatives.

Q: If I apply for a position, does that automatically mean I will be on the ballot?
A: Unfortunately, no. According to the CSTA bylaws, the election ballot will list at most two candidates for each open Board position. If more than two qualified candidates submit applications, the Elections & Nominations Committee is charged with selecting the two most outstanding candidates to be placed on the ballot. Committee members independently rank the candidates using a rubric that considers factors such as leadership skills and experience, understanding of core issues in CS education, and alignment of goals to CSTA’s mission. While this model does sometimes mean that highly qualified candidates do not make the ballot, it does allow for us to keep the ballot size manageable while still providing detailed statements from each candidate.

Q: Why should I consider running for the CSTA Board?
A: Serving on the CSTA Board of Directors is an extremely rewarding opportunity to give back to the teaching community. Board members help to set the vision for the organization and work to promote CS education on a global scale. Their work supports and provides professional development for CSTA’s more than 22,000 members. In addition, working closely with other amazing educators is rewarding in itself.

Details on applying for the CSTA Board of Directors can be found at http://csta.acm.org/About/sub/AboutFiles/Election2016.html. The deadline for submissions is January 31 (11:59pm PST), so don’t wait too long. Questions can be directed to nominations@csta-hq.org.

Dave Reed
Chair, CSTA Board of Directors

CSTA Board of Directors Election (part 1)

Posted on January 11, 2016 by Dave Reed

These are exciting times for CSTA, as we prepare to launch a new website as well as initiatives centered on professional development, advocacy and equity. Why not take this opportunity to help shape the future of the organization by running for the CSTA Board of Directors? There are five open positions on the board this year, four representing specific perspectives and a fifth, at-large position.

9-12 Representative: A classroom teacher who is currently teaching computer science at the high school level.
At-Large Representative: An educator with responsibilities for K-12 CS education.
International Representative: An international (outside the United States) classroom teacher who is currently teaching or promoting computer science at the pre-collegiate level.
State Department Representative: An educator or administrator who reports to a state department of education and oversees, in some capacity, computer science education.
University Faculty Representative: A faculty member from a university computing department offering graduate degrees in computer science.

To apply for one of these position, you simply need to submit a resume and a brief application form – details can be found at http://csta.acm.org/About/sub/AboutFiles/Election2016.html. The deadline for submissions is January 31 (11:59pm PST), so don’t wait too long. Questions can be directed to nominations@csta-hq.org.