Storm Lake Computer Science Blueprint

Computer Science Instruction

In the Storm Lake Community School District, students are exposed to computer science instruction kindergarten through 4th grade from classroom teachers and/or a computer science teacher as a non-core class. There is not currently a computer science teacher at the middle school level, so any computer science instruction comes from the core teachers. High school students have the option of taking computer science courses as electives. By August of 2024, we will have two classrooms per grade (K-5) that specialize in computer science. There will be a minimum of two teachers per grade level with intensive computer science training to lead a specialized classroom.

Embedded Program

To implement computer science, we chose to embed computer science into our instruction at the elementary level and teach it as a non-core class. We believe computer science to be integrated into all curricular areas, instead of teachers viewing it as one more thing to teach. This aligns with our goals to provide equitable access to computer science instruction to all students and increase staff understanding and support of computer science instruction. When our specialized computer science classrooms are created, the expectation for embedding computer science will continue for all classrooms.

Equitable Access

The Storm Lake Community School District is a 1:1 district. Each of our students from grades Kindergarten to 12th grade are provided a Chromebook and support to keep them fully operational. All students at the elementary (with the exception of Level 2/3 SPED) are taught computer science by our elementary computer science teacher on a weekly rotation. We look forward to growing our computer science program so all students are receive computer science instruction daily.

Implementation Steps:

We developed a leadership team of those who can make decisions for our buildings and can support the implementation of our computer science program. This included the superintendent, principals, our tech director, instructional coaches, and a passionate STEM teacher.
We secured professional development opportunities for our staff (BootUp).
A survey was sent out to our Kindergarten - 8th grade staff to see who was interested in being a part of a computer science team and receive two years computer science training. The goal was to have at least two representatives from each grade level.
The K-8 computer science team was reduced to PreK-4th grade teachers to really focus our attention to implementing computer science instruction at the early grade levels and then build our way up to the middle school.
A K-12 Planning Team was developed after the Iowa Department of Education required a K-12 Computer Science Plan. This was a paid team of teachers that expressed interest in being a part of this team. This team was led by our leadership team and held meetings on professional development days. The main focus of this team was to develop a CSTA standards aligned curriculum to enhance what we already had in place.
As of July 2022, we will have three computer science courses taught at the high school level.
During the 2022-2023 school year, computer science will continue to be integrated into classrooms and a standalone classes will be offered at the elementary and middle school.