Building State Capacity for K-12 Computer Science Leadership National Conference

Education Development Center, Waltham MA

Investigators

Abstract

The Massachusetts Computing Attainment Network (MassCAN) at Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), proposes to address the national need for a more strategic and systemic approach to computer science (CS) education by bringing together multi-sector teams from 10 states that have demonstrated leadership in developing strategic approaches to effect statewide impact on K-12 CS education. The MassCAN/EDC project team will synthesize the states' strategic approaches and develop multi-dimensional models for effective strategic action, which they will then be disseminated to other states. During the two-day Workshop and four one-day follow-up sessions (spread out over the year), the 10 teams will share Best Practices, address common challenges, and build their capacity for continued leadership. The Workshop will focus on four dimensions that states have identified as key to a strategic plan: (1) informing state-wide leadership, (2) engaging business leaders, (3) creating broad-based coalitions to lead state K-12 CS education, and (4) ensuring that equity is a central principle of all implementation strategies.