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This paper shares results from surveys administered in spring 2018 to a nationally representative sample of nearly 300 U.S. high school computer science teachers. It describes the nature of high school computer science instruction and the extent to which teacher background, classroom factors, and school context predict the type of instruction students experience. Data from the study were analyzed using path modeling-a form of regression analysis that estimates both direct and indirect effects (i.e., through intermediary variables)-to examine relationships between teacher, classroom, and school factors, and the extent to which teachers (1) emphasize reform-oriented instructional objectives (e.g., learning about real-life applications of computer science) and (2) engage students in computer science practices (e.g., recognizing and defining computational problems). Sample findings include that students are most commonly engaged in activities related to testing and refining computational artifacts, but are less often engaged in aspects of computer science related to end users (e.g., create a computational artifact to be used by someone else). The path analysis highlights several factors that are related to greater engagement of students in the computer science practices, including teacher participation in professional development and the use of coherent instructional materials. 

This study used nationally representative data from the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (8th-grade Science) and the 2018 National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education toward two primary purposes: (a) to examine the association between teachers’ formal (university) content preparation in science and student outcomes in science, and (b) to document the prevalence and locality of Out-of-Field (OoF) science teaching in the US. The relationship between teachers’ formal science preparation and students’ 8th-grade science outcomes was mixed across science disciplines with a statistically significant association being observed for students’ earth science outcomes. Teachers’ experience teaching science and access to science instructional materials/kits were more strongly associated with student outcomes than was their formal content preparation, with statistically significant associations observed for all student outcomes (physical science, life science, and earth science). The prevalence of OoF science teaching was higher in middle schools than in high schools, as well as more frequently occurring in historically lower achieving and impoverished educational contexts.