TCBOE
Cultivating a Culture of Computational Thinking
Our CT Journey
Over the past three years, Talladega County Schools participated in the National Science Foundation-funded project, Developing Inclusive K-12 Computing Pathways for the League of Innovative Schools, working in a research practice partnership to identify opportunities and develop the capacity to integrate CT in K12 disciplinary learning. District leaders worked closely with the Digital Promise team to consider how the district could develop activities, curricula, and assessment that appealed to a broader range of students, with a focus on promoting inclusivity among students from low socioeconomic households and, more broadly, female students. Additionally, we focused on ensuring that such offerings were offered both consistently across our schools and classrooms and cumulatively (i.e., with coursework and activities building off each other). The district leveraged existing leadership teams across schools to begin the process of designing Talladega’s CT Pathway through a three-fold process:
Stage #1: Why K-12 CT?
In the first stage, Talladega clarified its vision for its own K-12 computing pathway. Over a period of two months, the team met to identify the district’s strengths, interests, and existing resources—as well as its gaps per grade level and across schools. They identified a few opportunities for computing in middle and high school, but little opportunity for students to build foundational computing skills outside of those classes. As a rural district, the Talladega community valued computing learning opportunities for students to thrive in the technologically evolving workforce and promote economic opportunity in the region. They resolved to integrate CT in each grade K-8 and across disciplines.
Stage #2: What do we mean by K-12 Computing?
In the second stage, the Talladega district leadership team defined what new learning opportunities would be created across grade levels, courses, and schools. Here, Talladega tapped into Alabama’s own Digital Literacy and Computer Science (DLCS) standards and relevant disciplinary standards to specifically define opportunities to integrate CT integration by grade level and within the context of specific subjects (i.e., math, ELA, and science). Talladega developed a “competency map” linking CT curricular specific activities and resources (e.g., Storytelling with Scratch in fourth grade ELA) to identify particular themes (e.g., digital storytelling) for integration, examining particular computing competencies (e.g., using algorithms, working with data, abstraction, etc.).
Stage #3: How to enact K-12 Computing for All?
Talladega’s third stage was most ambitious, addressing the nuts and bolts of school- and classroom-level change. Talladega shared their drafted pathway across the district, and leveraged Digital Promise’s support to design surveys and interview protocols to gather teacher, administrative, student, and community feedback. Its pathway informed teacher Spring and then Fall professional development resources and supports, with sessions hereon tied to the specific competencies and activities identified on its pathway. Additionally, the district determined how they will measure the degree to which pathway implementation is making progress on their initial inclusivity goals, based upon student involvement in courses, student exit tickets on individual lessons, and classroom observation via “look fors” documents specific to the district’s CT competencies. This last component of assessment is key in terms of how Talladega will update and add to its CT pathway for continuous improvement.
