Professional isolation is a unique challenge faced by many CS teachers. To help CS teachers address this challenge, CSTA promotes itself as “The World’s Largest CS Department” and provides community even for those teachers who are the “only computer science teacher in your school, district, or town.” PSCSTA strives to offer the same for all Washington teachers.
Of the 279 districts reporting, 219 (79%) had 1.0 or fewer CS teachers per high school. However, larger districts did significantly better. The 21% of districts with more than 1.0 CS teachers per high school composed over 42% of our student population and over 53% of all CS teachers.
Enrollment fragmentation is another unique challenge faced by CS teachers. It’s more difficult to teach three different courses to 10 students each during a class period than to teach 30 students a single course during that same period. Districts with low enrollment rates per teacher on the dashboard are districts placing undue administrative burden on their CS teachers and have CS programs in danger of phasing out.
However, no dashboard can capture all the challenges CS teachers face above and beyond those of other subjects.
Let us know what unique challenges you face as a CS teacher. Please share your thoughts on the PSCSTA community thread (👥) Additional Challenges Faced by CS Teachers in Washington. And if you haven’t joined PSCSTA yet to share, learn, and commiserate, join here.
Why was the CS teacher angry with the school board at the new year?
They didn’t get arrays.
January Issue 2024
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Welcome Washington CS Ed Community!
Were you standing on one leg once the clock struck midnight on December 31st? We sure were and are excited to welcome you to the New Year on the right foot!
Welcome to the January 2024 edition of the CSTA Puget Sound (aka "PSCSTA") newsletter.
We have insightful articles on Washington CS teacher demographics, events such as the upcoming Regional Meet-Up, opportunities like Washington PD Clock Hours, and more to share that are unique from our December connector. Didn't see the December issue? Don't fret, you can now view all issues by clicking on the drop-down menu under News at the top of our home page!
We hope you find our reimagined monthly newsletter useful and entertaining. If you have any comments about the current edition or ideas for future editions, please email csta.pugetsound@gmail.com :)
Please forward this newsletter to others you know in the CS education community. This content and most links will also be publicly available on our website. A few links designated by (đź‘Ą) require a chapter membership to access our community content. Not a member? It's free. Just visit our websiteand press the "Join CSTA Puget Sound" button.
Member Spotlight: Jennifer Styer
Jennifer Styer teaches at Sehome High School (Bellingham SD, pop: 1100), a CSTA Equity Fellow since 2021. During CSEd Week in December she represented CSTA on a panel discussing Teaching Inclusive AI in CS at the White House and met with Congressional Representatives on Capitol Hill.
Current courses:
Period 1: Intro to Programming (14), AP CS Principles (3), AP CS A (8)
Two Periods: Video Game Design (61 students)
Other classes taught: Visual Communications, Interior Design, Walking and Hiking, and Living on Your Own
CS-related extra-curricular activities:
FBLA
Programming Club, VEX Competitions
​​​​​​​On Being an Equity Fellow and DC Trip
I was accepted as a CSTA Equity Fellow after my third attempt. I've learned much about Equity and CS from some amazing people. My favorite part of the fellowship has been the fellowship. We are constantly sharing what we are up to on our Slack channel. We get together over Zoom quarterly and share what we continue to learn with each other. The Equity Fellowship got me excited to teach AI and algorithmic bias. I helped teach CSTA members in Mississippi about AI education. Between the fellows, classroom industry volunteers, and my advisory group I have been pushing myself to teach more about how AI works, what it’s being used for, and what’s in the news and not working with AI. My STEAM classes also use generative AI.
CSTA sent a delegation to DC for CSEdWeek, including 11 teachers meeting with their representatives on Capitol Hill. I was part of the Voices From the Field: Educators Perspectives panel at the Teaching Inclusive AI in CS event at the White House. Everyone we met with was very supportive of our efforts and knowledgeable about the opportunities and pitfalls in AI and the need for security and education in AI. The formality surprised me. Yet there were no refreshments, no real reception, and we had to carry our own water bottles.
Biggest challenge:
Educating students, staff, admin, counselors, and parents that Computer Science is for everyone.
On PSCSTA:
I am in the northwest corner of Washington. I look forward to meeting other Northwest Washington CS educators at the CSTA Northwest Washington meetup on 4:30 - 6:00 PM Jan 16 at Skagit Valley College.
Background
BA in Secondary Education at Teaching, Western Washington University (2000)
M.Ed Antioch University (2005)
National Board Certification (2008)
Started teaching computer science in 2000 in the same period as Yearbook with students learning C independently from a CD ROM at Granite Falls High. Since then, I’ve spent many of my summers going around the country learning about CS education.
Catherine Wyman and Jennifer Styer have organized our first regional meetup – for northwest Washington on Jan 16, 2024 from 4:30 - 6:00 PM at Skagit Valley College. Please use the event page to register and find out more about this meetup.
Please consider organizing your own in-person meetup - regional, topic-specific, or just fun. PSCSTA will help fund the meetup based on the number of members attending. See Create your own CS Educator meetup.
If you live or work in an area supported by one of the other Washington CSTA Chapters: Mid-Columbia, Spokane, or Central Washington, please those chapters to view their local offerings. Joining one or more CSTA chapters - including PSCSTA - is free.
The Technology Education and Learning Support (TEALS) program is a Microsoft Philanthropies program that aims to build sustainable computer science (CS) programs in high schools. This program focuses on serving students excluded from learning CS because of race, gender, or geography. TEALS helps teachers learn to teach CS by pairing them with industry volunteers and proven curricula.
Across the United States, TEALS supports 500 High Schools. In Washington, TEALS supports 42 high schools - over 8% of nationwide total.
TEALS also provides the following resources to help CS Educators:
CSTA partnership with CSTA+ memberships for teachers at TEALS-supported schools
If you are a school that is interested in gaining support form TEALS make sure to apply HERE by February. School application window is September - February. If you are an individual that is interested in becoming a TEALS volunteer, make sure to stay tuned and check the TEALS webpage as the Volunteer Application opens mid-February.
Washington PD Clock Hours Available Winter 2024
CSTA Puget Sound (aka "PSCSTA") provides free Washington clock hours for all the self-paced, online courses on Coursera provided by CSTA.
