Before the CSE Project:

There was no direct computer science instruction or integration happening in the Fort Madison Elementary Schools before being awarded the CSE Grant. At the high school level, there has been increased focus on providing CTE opportunities for our students. We chose to apply for this grant because we thought the addition of computer science for our elementary students would be a nice fit with the overall direction of our district. The CSE Grant has made a huge impact on our elementary students, and is already having a ripple effect at our middle school!

Year One - Fall 2019 - Spring 2020

The first year we formed our Computer Science Cohort with one teacher from each grade level (K-3) at Richardson Elementary. Other members included the Richardson librarian, the building principal, and TLS coaches. (math, reading, and data) This year was spent getting familiar with the CSTA Standards, learning about computational thinking, and looking at possible curriculums and gaining a better understanding of what computer science is. The cohort studied the Loess Hills Blueprint and several of the TLS coaches made a site visit to Loess Hills. The cohort also did a book study on Computational Thinking and Coding For Every Student, by Jane Krauss and Kiki Prottsman The school year came to an abrupt stop with the Covid shutdown in March of 2020. The cohort continued to hold virtual meetings between March and June. We used the Iowa CS Standards School Assessment to look at what we were currently doing and helping us determine what we needed to work on next.

Year Two - Fall 2020 - Spring 2021

In year two, the cohort started to meet again. We used some self assessment rubrics to help guide our next steps. After comparing different curriculums, we decided to use CS in SF for kindergarten through second grades. Third grade chose Code.org. In November, the cohort group added a teacher from each grade level at Lincoln Elementary. The focus this year was on deepening our understanding of the CS standards and piloting the chosen curriculums. A secondary focus was to teach those outside of the cohort group about computer science and to help them make connections to what they were already doing in their classrooms. It was not in our original plans, but by the spring of 2021 computer science was being taught to all students in kindergarten through third grades. We used professional development time to teach teachers about computational thinking and to make connections to how they are already using it in their classrooms.

Year Three - Fall 2021 - Spring 2022

In year three, we had non-cohort teachers express interest in teaching computer science, so several grade levels across the district have every teacher teaching computer science. Some grades have a designated teacher that teaches computer science to all of the sections. A focus of year three was to increase computer science integration. We started this by focusing the integration on math and reading priority standards. We used professional development time to show teachers how to use some of our cs devices and then gave them time to try them out and then meet with their grade level teams to brainstorm integration ideas. Some representatives of the cohort group attend SCRIPT training to help us self-assess our progress.