The Stanislaus County Office of Education (SCOE) is partnering with Seasons of Computer Science with Computer Science for California (CSforCA), expanding the pool of computer science teachers in Stanislaus County, and directly leading to an expansion of access to high-quality computer science education for students.

Rudy Escobar, STEM and Computer Science coordinator at SCOE, has led this work with Rod Garcia (Monterey County Office of Education), Katherine Goyette (Tulare County Office of Education), and Ed Campos (Kings County Office of Education). To lead this work, SCOE has been awarded $148,000 to plan and implement professional development (PD) workshops throughout the region. The PD includes the implementation of computer science standards and the integration of these standards into other subject areas. An example of PD includes Micro:bit workshops, Administrators and Counselors workshops, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence workshops, and Computer Science integration in CTE Sectors workshops. In addition, teachers, administrators, and counselors receive a week of computer science training to support implementing computer science and integration of computer science in other contexts and content areas such as elementary classrooms, mathematics, English, and science.

“All students deserve access to a computer science education that enables them to succeed in the future and teaches them foundational skills like computation, critical thinking, problem-solving, and technological innovation,” said Superintendent Scott Kuykendall. “By involvement in Seasons of CS, the goal is to provide professional learning development to over

100 teachers in the geo-region over the next 18 months, expanding the pool of eligible CS teachers across 11 counties.”

CSforCA is a coalition of educators, industry leaders, nonprofit organizations, and higher education institutions advocating for high-quality computer science teaching & learning opportunities in K-12 public schools so that every California student has access, regardless of zip code, race, gender, or economic background. Earlier this year, a $5 million Educator Workforce Grant (EWIG) in Computer Science was awarded to UCLA and its CSforCA coalition, along with CDE Foundation and Sacramento County Office of Education, to expand the Summer of CS professional learning pilot into a more robust Seasons of CS professional learning program across California’s statewide system of support. This expansion will provide critical support to educators searching for computer science professional development.