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Standards
In January 2018 the Pennsylvania State Board of Education endorsed the 2017 Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) K-12 Computer Science Standards. Local education agencies (LEAsare encouraged to voluntarily adopt these standards to guide the implementation of Computer Science education.
Act 86 (signed into law on July 13, 2016) amended section 1605 of the Pennsylvania Public School Code to allow high school students to apply up to one credit towards a math or science high school graduation credit requirement upon successful completion of computer science or information technology coursework.
About the CS Standards
The standards are designed to:
- Introduce the fundamental concepts of CS to all students, beginning at the elementary school level.
- Present CS at the secondary school level in a way that can fulfill a computer science, math, or science graduation credit.*
- Encourage schools to offer additional secondary-level CS courses that will allow interested students to study facets of computer science in more depth and prepare them for entry into the workforce or college.^
- Increase the availability of rigorous computer science for all students, especially those who are members of underrepresented groups. 1
The CS standards are organized in grade-level bands, providing flexibility for LEAs in determining how to address them, however; it may take time to acclimate to the way that the standards are organized and named.
