Several of the big K-12 computer science education groups have put out a draft “framework” for what should be taught in the subject, and they’re now looking for feedback from the public.
“The framework will provide guidance to states or districts to design their own standards, curriculum, assessments, or teacher preparation programs,” says the document, which was developed by Code.org, the Computer Science Teachers Association, and the Association for Computing Machinery, along with a group of advisors. “This effort is not about developing standards: Other organizations (CSTA/states/districts) will do that using this framework to inform their work.”
The first part of the draft, released yesterday, includes just the 9th through 12th grade concepts and practices. Reviewers have until Feb. 17 to fill out the feedback form. The groups will release the entire draft framework, for grades K-12, on March 14 and those reviews are due April 1.
While the groups were careful to point out this is not a set of standards (the upheaval around the common core has made writing standards politically tricky), the end goal of the framework effort is to create a progression of computer science skills that build on each other throughout the grades.
And that’s certainly a giant first step in the standards-writing process. (Remember, the Common Core State Standards for math were built off a progressions document. And the Next Generation Science Standards were developed from the Framework for K-12 Science Education.)
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