In 2013, 51 students in Nevada took the Advanced Placement Computer Science exam, only 3 of them girls. This year, 22 of my students will take the APCS A exam. I already have 50 students signed up to take APCS Principles next year, half of them girls. Change is happening, but I need more training.
50 students signed up for an APCS Principles class may not seem impressive, but I teach in a small secondary school near Lake Tahoe with only about 200 students in grades 7-12.
That means that not only has 25% of the student body signed up to take AP Computer Science, but the percentage is even higher when one considers that only students grades 9-12 who have completed Algebra 1 are eligible.
I partly credit this high level of interest to a very active STEM initiative that includes a summer STEM camp as well as engagement activities throughout the school year. But I also credit a very motivated and collaborative student body. The desire for AP Computer Science at our school came from the students, not from the teachers, parents, or administrators. Our school is like a family, and when a few of the students decided that they wanted and needed computer science classes, they banded together and made it happen.
My Project
After I introduced students to computer science with the Hour of Code in my English classes, they convinced me to start a computer club in February of 2015. That soon led to a new mission: the first AP Computer Science course not only in our school, but in our entire school district. As I helped my students promote their mission, we kept getting push back that there was no one to teach the course. As an English teacher with no CS background who barely understood the rudiments of Scratch, I was certainly not qualified.
Because there were no other options available, I did the research on the Nevada requirements, and I started taking online classes at night to get licensed to teach computer programming. It wasn't easy, and it wasn't cheap, but I believed in the mission. Just in time for this fall, I had my provisional endorsement.
But having permission to teach a subject and being effective are two very different goals, and this professional development training provided this summer by Mobile CSP will help me meet the latter, more important one.
My goal is for every student who graduates from my high school to have taken at least one computer science class, for most of them to have taken at least one AP Computer Science class, and for many of them to complete a 3-course pathway that will meet the requirements for a CTE (Career and Technical Education) certificate in Computer Science.
Whether computer science prepares them for college, career, or just foundational knowledge to understand their world, all students need access. Your donation to this professional development project will help me so I will better be able to teach my students computer science.
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