Computational Thinking Pathways

Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) works with a nonprofit group called Digital Promise to help grow computer science programs in schools across the country. BCPS is one of six school districts taking part in a four‑year project funded by the National Science Foundation. The goal of this partnership is to find better ways to help more students, especially those who have had fewer opportunities, take part in computer science learning.

Even though all 50 states in the United States have rules and standards for teaching computer science, fairness is still a big challenge. Studies show that many high school computer science classes do not include more diverse students than they did 20 years ago. This partnership between Digital Promise Global and the Broward County School Board works to fix this problem by helping more students take part in computer science. The partnership creates a learning community where school districts work together to improve computer science programs. It also focuses on helping districts connect computer science skills to state standards, classroom resources, and teacher training.

This research-practitioner partnership (RPP) between Digital Promise Global and the Broward County School Board builds upon prior work that designed inclusive K-12 computing pathways. Key to this scale-up is the crucial role of school districts in addressing ongoing equity dilemmas and student achievement gaps in K-12 computing. The project team includes eight diverse school districts, who collectively explore practices for sustainably scaling the inclusive CT pathways model that partnering districts have individually designed and implemented over the past three years. The RPP will leverage the CT Pathways Toolkit designed from prior work and implement a teacher-led model of professional learning at scale for district administrators and instructors. The goal is for district leaders and teachers to develop skills and support systems to effectively implement cumulative, consistent, and competency-based learning opportunities in each grade, K-12.

Computational Thinking Pathways Informational pdf