Media Day at Computer Science Training Next Week (Tuscaloosa)

The top universities in the nation are seeing a major surge in students interested in computer science majors, and employment of those with computer science degrees is estimated by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to rise by 15% from 2012 to 2022, “faster than the average for all occupations.

To get students prepared for majors and careers in this field, the University of Alabama is leading an effort to increase opportunities to offer Computer Science (CS) Principles in Alabama high schools. And while conducting training for Alabama educators to lead this course successfully, UA is also – with support from a Google “Computer Science for High School” grant – opening access to its professional development nationally. The UA and A+ College Ready collaboration is teaming with the College Board to help develop and pilot this future Advanced Placement course.

For six weeks this summer, UA is hosting a free, online course for teachers around the nation interested in teaching Computer Science Principles. Leading the effort is UA computer science professor, Jeff Gray, who says enrollment for their first-ever online “MOOC,” (Massively Open Online Course) has exceeded 900 teachers in over 40 states, some who are even participating in other countries and teaching on military bases.

“This is taking the ideas that we planned regionally for Alabama and scaling it up to work with teachers across the United States who have the same interests in offering this course in their high schools,” said Gray.

The curriculum has been adapted from a CS Principles Pilot course taught at the University since 2011, according to Gray.

The MOOC is being supported by a grant from the Google CS4HS program. The online course parallels the CS Principles professional development instruction of the “CS4Alabama” project.  CS Principles is currently being piloted in Alabama through a National Science Foundation CE21 grant awarded to the University of Alabama, in collaboration with A+ College Ready and the Alabama State Department of Education. The goal of the project is to provide year-long professional development and mentoring to 50 high school teachers over a three year period, enabling them to offer the course to a diverse group of students.

“Google’s CS4HS is an annual grant program promoting computer science education worldwide by connecting educators to the skills and resources they need to teach computer science & computational thinking concepts in fun and relevant ways,” said Karen Parker, Education Program Manager for Google. “Through this grant, Google is pleased to have supported Jeff Gray and the University of Alabama in their effort to increase access to high quality computer science professional development since 2011.  We look forward to seeing how their upcoming MOOC will broaden their reach beyond the state of Alabama.”

As an extension of the six-week online course, Alabama teachers who are involved in piloting the CS Principles Course will gather at the University of Alabama for a meeting June 23 – 27 to work together and build on the instruction.

The College Board is developing CS Principles as a future Advanced Placement (AP) course that is expected to launch in Fall 2016 with an official exam in May 2017. CS Principles seeks to broaden the participation in computer science by providing an engaging and fun curriculum that showcases the diverse and exciting opportunities that are available in computer science.

As part of the CS4Alabama Project, nine Alabama Schools piloted the course in 2013-14 and twenty-two schools will join the pilot in the 2014-15 school year.

Participating year-one schools, which will be serving as mentors for the year-two schools, are; The Alabama School of Math and Science (Dr. Albert Lilly); Alabama School of Fine Arts (Carol Yarbrough), New Century Technology High School (Jim Morse), Huntsville High School (Jeff Baker), Bob Jones High School (Jennie Rountree), Hoover High School (Jill Westerlund), LAMP (Roy Black), Muscle Shoals High School (Leella Holt), Lawrence County High School (Gina McCarley).

Participating year-two high schools are; Fairhope, Wenonah, Chambers County Career Tech Center, LeCroy Tech, Fairview, Fairfield High Preparatory, Guntersville, Hartselle, Homewood, Spain Park, Columbia, JCIB, Minor, Shades Valley, Oak Grove, James Clemens, Hazel Green, Oxford, Sylacauga, Hewitt-Trussville, Tuscaloosa Career and Technology Academy and Vestavia Hills.

An additional 20 schools will be invited to join the pilot in 2015-16.

As further encouragement for expanding Computer Science course offerings, the Alabama State Board of Education passed a resolution allowing Computer Science Courses to count as a mathematics credit toward high school graduation.

“Not only will there continue to be a high demand for Computer Science in post-secondary education institutions and the job market, but Alabama aspires to have the best-prepared students coming out of high school to be successful in these areas,” said Mary Boehm, president of A+ College Ready, a non-profit organization that works with ALSDE and UA to help expand Advanced Placement opportunities in Alabama.

A+ College Ready, a division of the A+ Education Partnership, was created with a $13.2 million grant from the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) to implement a proven Advanced Placement training and stipend initiative in public schools throughout Alabama, in partnership with the Alabama State Department of Education.  A+ College Ready will lead the implementation efforts of the Advanced Placement Computer Science course in some Alabama high schools beginning the fall of 2016.

Contact:  Jeff Gray, 205-348-2847 or Mary Boehm, 205-257-5349