A CSTA Status Report Chris Stephenson Executive Director

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A CSTA Status Report Chris StephensonExecutive
Director

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Agenda

• CSTA Organizationally (governance and membership)
  
• CSTA Fiscally (revenues, expenditures,
  sustainability)
• CSTAs Impact (resources developed, impact
  metrics)
• Working with Others (ACM SIGS, external
  partnerships)
• Issues to Watch Out For
• Whats Next

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Organizational Progress

• Board of Directors
• In 2007 CSTA will transition to an entirely
  elected Board of Directors with representation
  for all educational levels
• Advisory Council
• Dr. Debra Richardson has agreed to serve as Chair
  of the Advisory Council
• The Council currently has members from both
  academe and industry but we are considering
  expanding the Council by two members
• Standing Committees
• The Board committees do the real work of the
  organization (Executive, Communications,
  Curriculum, Equity, Membership, Policy and
  Advocacy, Professional Development, Research, and
  Standards and Certification)
• Senior Board members must chair a committee and
  all Board members must serve on at least two
  committees
• The committee structure is working very well
• Special Committee
• In June the Board will create a special committee
  to oversee the development of local CSTA Chapters
  and will appoint a special Chair for this
  committee
• Volunteers
• We have a large volunteer base but we would like
  to use them more efficiently

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Membership Statistics

• Current CSTA Membership (January 1, 2007)
• Total 6882
• Individual Members 6417
• Institutional Members 465
• Expired 2106
• Cancelled75
• U.S. Membership 3917
• Canadian Membership 133
• Other Countries 668
• India 183
• Phillipines 60
• Pakistan 35
• Nigeria 28
• UK 24

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Membership Challenges

• Providing Benefits for All Members
• Developing membership benefits has been a primary
  focus for the Board and volunteer committees
• Our membership is diverse and developing benefits
  that appeal to all members is challenging
• Many international members join thinking that we
  can provide them with funding or teaching jobs
  and fail to renew when they find out we cannot
• Attracting Institutional Members
• Concern with enrollment is high but many
  post-secondary educators do not understand the
  importance of supporting K-12 computing education
  
• We are looking at new programs to make
  institutional membership more valuable to
  university computer science and information
  technology departments but getting them to join
  and renew is labor intensive
• Balancing Impact and Revenue
• The more resources we put behind the membership
  wall, the more likely we are to attract members
  but the less likely we are to achieve real,
  sustained improvements in K-12. The CSTA Board
  believes that we are a discipline in crises and
  we need to find ways to impact as many people as
  possible right now. This means we have to be
  creative, flexible, and vigilant in terms of
  attracting and diversifying CSTAs revenue
  sources.

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CSTA Revenue Sources
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CSTA 06 Expenditures
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Sustainability

• Without support from ACM and the SIG Governing
  Council, CSTA simply could not afford to produce
  the materials and have the impact it is now
  having
• Our track record with National Science
  Foundation grant funding has been excellent and
  we need to continue to
• Investigate funding sources
• Plan projects that will attract funding
  commitments
• Write solid proposals
• Give our grantors an excellent return on their
  investment
• Our track record on project funding from
  corporate sponsors has been excellent and we need
  to continue to
• Investigate funding sources
• Plan projects that will attract funding
  commitments
• Write solid proposals
• Give our corporate sponsors an excellent return
  on their investment
• We need to find someone with the expertise to
  help us explore foundation funding sources and to
  continue to diversify our revenue sources

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This Year

• Four new issues of the CSTA Voice
• 30 more JETT workshops across the country
• Beta testing of the new TECS introductory CS
  workshops
• 11 TECS workshops across the country
• Development of The New Educational Imperative
  Improving High School Computer Science Education
  report
• Distribution of The New Educational Imperative
  Improving High School Computer Science Education
  report to over 31,000 educators
• Development of a new edition of the ACM Model
  Curriculum for K-12 Computer Science with a
  special new foreword
• Development of the Level III Outlines and
  Objectives document to support implementation of
  the ACM Model Curriculum for K-12 Computer
  Science
• Development of the IT is all about me poster
  and distribution to more than 17,000 educators
• The 2006 Computer Science Information
  Technology Symposium (130)
• Development of a new Member Benefits brochure
• Worked with The ACM Ed Board to develop and
  disseminate the Degrees and Careers in Computing
  brochure

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Addressing Key Challenges

• The Continuing drop in student enrollment at all
  levels
• Getting career information into the hands of
  teachers, counselors, students, and parents
  (poster, brochures, lesson plans, ASCA articles,
  Voice articles, conference presentations)
• Working on equity issues (poster, NCWIT K-12
  Alliance, CWIT, CSEA)
• Certification of K-12 Teachers (Who Teaches)
• Working towards sensible models of certification
  for K-12 computing teachers that ensure that they
  have the requisite technical and pedagogical
  skills (CS certification study, CS certification
  database, formation of special committee, working
  with UC Irvine on new models for educating
  potential K-12 CS teachers)
• Curriculum Standards (What and How They Teach)
• Continuing to promote the implementation of the
  ACM Model Curriculum for K-12 Computer Science
  (Objectives Outlines documents)
• Providing classroom relevant resources (web
  repository, IBM curriculum project)
• Providing professional develop opportunities
  (JETT/TECS, CSIT Symposium)
• Providing information about more engaging ways to
  teach (new foreword to the Model Curriculum 2nd
  Ed., CST Symposium, CSTA Voice articles,
  Advocate blog postings)
• Creating Community
• Finding ways to bridge the knowledge gap between
  K-12 and post secondary institutions and build
  mentoring relationships between K-121 and
  college/university (JETT/TECS, conference
  presentations, CSTA institutional membership
  program)

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Metrics of CSTA Success (Evaluators Report)

• CSTA Media Hits
• In one year, CSTA generated a total of 121 media
  hits reaching over 7 million individuals in major
  media outlets across the country (these included
  a CNN interview with CSTAs President Robb
  Cutler)
• CSTA Website
• Over a seven-month period there were 34,000
  visits and 22,000 unique visitors
• 71 found the desired information easy to locate
  and that the sites organization made sense, that
  the page layout was effective, and that there was
  the right balance of text, graphics, and
  interactive elements
• CSTA Voice
• From September 2005 - June 2006 circulation of
  the CSTA Voice increased 70 from 2,823 to 4,776
• 84 found the featured articles interesting and
  relevant
• 80 were enthusiastic about the newsletters
  overall appearance believing it was inviting and
  engaging
• 80 agreed that the layout was clear, well
  organized and straightforward.
• 79 reported that the columns were interesting
  and relevant to their needs

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Metrics cont.

• New Educational Imperative Report
• 94 said the paper examined the critical role
  educational leaders play in the effective
  teaching of Computer Science to a moderate or
  great extent
• 93 said that they would probably (45) or
  definitely (49) would recommend The New
  Educational Imperative Improving High School
  Computer Science Education to a colleague
• 92 reported they agreed (44) or strongly agreed
  (49) the paper readability had a wide reach
• 83 said that their familiarity with the concepts
  had changed as a result of their review of the
  report
• 83 reported that the report helped them gain a
  better understanding of the kinds of issues
  surrounding computer science education as well as
  their ability to effectively evaluate and assess
  their districts current Computer Science
  curricula
• 70 were enthusiastic about the paper, believing
  the content was relevant to the current and
  future teaching and learning needs of their
  districts.

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Metrics cont.

• ACM Model Curriculum for K-12 Computer Science
• 62 have used the model curriculum and believe
  that it had broad impacts on their instructional
  practices
• One of the most significant impacts the
  curriculum had was in establishing a common
  instructional language throughout all of levels
  of the educational community from state policy
  makers to district administrators to classroom
  teachers.
• JETT Workshops
• 86 indicated that JETT significantly impacted
  their understanding of CS concepts
• 85 reported that they would recommend the
  workshop to a friend or colleague
• 56 reported that the workshop deepened their
  understanding of gender equity
• CSIT Annual Symposium
• 100 rated their presenters knowledge of session
  content as good or excellent
• 98 rated the timeliness and values of the
  session topics as good or excellent
• 97 reported finding the sessions useful for
  improving teaching and learning.
• CSTA Curriculum Panel (NECC)
• 96 noted that the panel clearly established the
  key foundational concepts and theoretical
  elements that define Computer Science
• 80 felt that the panel provided them with more
  information about the obstacles in establishing
  and implementing national standards and curricula
  than what they had previously understood

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Key Partnerships

• ACM Groups
• Working with SIGCSE on attracting more high
  schools teachers
• Presentations at SIGCSE 06
• Working with SIGITE on attracting more high
  schools teachers
• Presentation at SIGITE 06
• Working with ACM Education Board on the Degrees
  and Careers in Computing brochure
• Helping to Canadianize the Degrees and Careers
  in Computing brochure
• Other Groups
• Working with American School Counselors
  Association to develop career information
  resources and publications
• Working with NCWIT to establish a K-12 Education
  Alliance
• Helping university researchers disseminate
  information about new resources and best
  practices to teachers
• Working with CCSC to increase K-12 content at its
  regional conferences
• Working with College Board to improve teacher
  preparation for the CS AP exams
• Participating in faculty colloquiums to give
  faculty a better understanding of K-12 issues and
  needs (CMU, UAB)
• Working with ISTE to plan and present the annual
  Computer Science and Information Technology
  symposium
• Working with TCEA TACS SIG on course requirement
  legislation

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Issues to Watch Our For

• NCLB
• This year, the No Child Left Behind legislation
  was implemented in high schools
• Under this legislation, federal funding is
  withdrawn from schools where students fail to
  reach specified performance levels on
  standardized tests in math and reading
• The result
• Non-core courses are being cancelled
• Funds are being withdrawn from other programs
• CS teachers are being pulled out of their
  classrooms to teach remedial mathematics (the Los
  Angeles example)
• Teacher Certification
• Certification requirements vary enormously from
  state to state
• Many states require CS teachers to hold multiple
  certifications with CS as a secondary to some
  other discipline
• Some states require CS teachers to take and pass
  praxis exams in other disciplines (math,
  business, vocational technology)
• Teachers are ill-informed as to the requirements
  in their own state
• Many DOE people responsible for certification are
  ill-informed as to the requirements in their own
  state (primarily because they do not know what
  computer science is)
• In some states where there are clearly-stated
  requirements, there is no way for them to be met
  (the Florida example)

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Coming Soon from CSTA

• The Source Online Repository for K-12 Teaching
  and Learning materials
• Searchable database of state-level computer
  science teacher certification requirements
• Formation of an expert committee to produce a
  white paper on establishing workable models for
  computer science teacher certification
• Careers in Computing brochure for middle school
  students and parents
• The 2007 Computer Science and Information
  Technology Symposium
• The 2007 National Survey of High School Computer
  Science Education
• Conference presentations SIGCSE, TCEA, NECC,
  CCSC
• Working with NCWIT via the K-12 Alliance to
  develop a Girls Gotta Have IT kit for
  dissemination at the National Educational
  Computer Conference

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Contact Information

• Chris Stephenson
• Executive Director, CSTA
• Phone [phone]
• Fax [phone] cstephenson_at_csta.acm.org