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In K-12 education, nearly all e"orts focused on expanding computer science education center on the induction of new computer science teachers, with very little attention given to support the ongoing needs of experienced computer science teachers. More seasoned teachers bene!t from deepening their content knowledge, peda gogical practices, and knowledge and capacity to provide equitable and inclusive learning experiences that results in students feeling a sense of belonging in computer science. This panel will discuss (a) the needs of experienced CS teachers from a variety of perspectives, including teacher education researchers, professional development leaders, and high school practitioners and teacher facilitator, and (b) collectively outline a research and practice agenda that focuses on supporting, retaining, and further developing experienced teachers through expanded professional development, leadership opportuni ties, and community for CS teachers.
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Training Effective Facilitators to Scale Equity-Focused Computer Science Professional Learning
Creating computer science (CS) classrooms in which all students – especially those historically excluded in CS – feel a sense of belonging is critical to equitably expanding CS education. Providing professional learning that prepares teachers to cultivate inclusive and culturally responsive environments at the scale needed to address inequities in CS education is a major challenge. This paper explores our experience scaling inclusive CS teaching through the development of a professional learning course for teachers and accompanying facilitator training. We describe key design decisions made over several iterations of the teacher-facing course and facilitator training. Our approach has aimed to balance the need for building community and safe spaces to converse about sensitive topics with the capacity to reach teachers at scale. We discuss findings from recent facilitator trainings and discuss best practices we have learned for scaling equity-based professional learning in CS.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2137834
- PAR ID:
- 10541973
- Publisher / Repository:
- ACM
- Date Published:
- ISBN:
- 9798400706264
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 270 to 277
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Computer Science Broadening Participation in Computing Scaling Professional Development Inclusion
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Atlanta GA USA
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1145/3653666.3656108
