Learn to teach coding to help us build the CS teacher pipeline in Jackson, MS.

The Computer Science Teacher Fellowship in partnership with Microsoft TechSpark, Amazon Future Engineer's BootUp PD and JSU's College of Education and Human Development is established to increase the number of certified K-5 computer science teachers in the Jackson metro area. Eight pre-service teachers at JSU will be selected to join the fellowship. Each fellow will receive professional development through BootUp PD, a nonprofit professional development provider. The fellows will put into practice the knowledge and skills they develop by teaching at one of the four summer school sites. Each fellow will receive a stipend at the end of the summer teaching.  

Fellowship Timeline

  • Application opens

  • Application opens. Convene partners.

  • Program overview

    Pre-survey

    Create Scratch accounts

  • Fellows placed in a summer site.

  • By May, the CS Teacher Fellows will begin their full-time, 2-month summer teaching (practicum). Two fellows will be placed in one of the 4 summer sites to teach a summer coding class, using the BootUp training they raised during Pre-Summer Institute. Summer Institute duties include the following:

    -co-planning and rehearsing lessons

    -participating in group discussions with the cohort

    -watching videos and models of teaching

    -learning new concepts and practices through collaborative adult learning experiences

    Practicum - The fellows will put into practice the knowledge and skills they develop through teaching students in a supportive environment at one of the summer school sites. Their practicum experience is led by an Instructional Team (curriculum partner + experience teacher). The practicum is their first opportunity to work directly with students and families as a computer science teacher.

    Observation - The Instructional Team and others will regularly observe the fellows' teaching throughout the practicum and engage them in feedback conversations. Together, they'll discuss areas for development and create concrete plans to increase student learning as they develop their computer science teaching skills. Item description

  • Culminating celebration to showcase student learning.

“Through this fellowship, JSU Pre-Service Teachers will be 'Day 1 Ready' to incorporate coding practices in their lessons and activities providing students in K-5 settings more exposure to different ways that technology can be used.”

Dr. La'Keshia Opara-Nadi, Director of Teacher Quality at Jackson State University

The Herculean Effort to Bring Equitable Computer Science Education to All Students in Jackson, MS.

  • With the expansion of computer science education in Mississippi, there needs to be a sustainable pipeline of K-12 educators, teachers and leaders who can provide and support rigorous and inclusive instruction in computer science for all students. A key component of the initial preparation and ongoing development of all teachers is post-secondary schools of education. Schools of education have courses which provide critical foundational knowledge to teacher candidates, have faculty who conduct research into the best practices of education for those courses, and help early career teachers pursue additional learning that enables them to grow into master teachers. Without the support of schools of education, the computer science education teaching force will be difficult to create at scale and continue to be a challenge for K-12 schools and principals. For computer science to truly be a core subject in K-12, we must treat the preparation of pre-service computer science teachers the same as other subjects.

    In order to have sustainable computer science in schools, we need schools (or colleges) of education to teach new CS teachers, to research new and better ways to teach CS, and to provide broad and equitable access to CS teaching and learning (Yadav & Korb, 2012). Schools of education typically host teacher education programs charged with providing pre-service educators the necessary coursework, practicum and student teaching, and certification required to prepare to teach an increasingly racially and linguistically diverse student population. This setup provides the following advantages:

    → Pre-service coursework typically includes a course of study in learning sciences, multicultural education, and teaching methodology classes for particular subjects and grade bands.

    → Pre-service observations and student teaching experience, likewise, arranged in collaboration with local schools, is also intended to be aligned with particular subjects and grade bands of certification.

    → Programs work with state agencies to ensure that pre-service teacher candidates successfully pass all state credentialing requirements.

    → Non-traditional preparation programs allow teachers to work in the classroom while they complete coursework through school/provider collaborations, and account for approximately 12% of teacher preparation.

    → Lastly, in-service programs are often housed in schools of education and provide teachers with the continued necessary professional development.

    The roadblocks preventing more certified CS teachers include: the lack of available CS teaching methodology classes, the lack of access to CS classrooms for student teaching, and the lack of a state teaching certificate in CS. Given their insights on teacher preparation and knowledge of these unique challenges, leaders of teacher education programs are uniquely suited to discuss and explore opportunities to prepare CS teachers.

  • The long-term outcomes of this Fellowship are three-fold:

    1.) More students in an under-resourced and under-represented community will have access to computer science.

    2.) A talent pipeline of educators is created to serve high-needs populations, become advocates for increased access to CS, and prepare future cs teachers in high-needs communities.

    3.) School leaders commit to broadening participation in CS activities.

    This Fellowship directly addresses existing CS education inequities and expands the research base in the following ways:

    1.) Recruit diverse leaders to teach CS in high-needs public high schools

    2.) Partner with school and district leaders to ensure high-needs high schools prioritize CS in their course offerings and provide them with teachers who are qualified to teach CS

    3.) Work with the curricula and advocacy partners (CSTA, Code.org, BootUp, Black Girls Code, etc) to prepare and support Fellows to deliver the curriculum to nearly 23,000 students in high-needs urban and rural high schools in the Jackson metro area.

Our Partnership Approach with JSU College of Education and Human Development

  • JSU’s College of Education will include content, teaching methods, and the state standards for computer science in the preparation program for teachers who will have responsibility for those standards.

    Faculty designing new courses or programs will partner with practitioners to make sure coursework aligns with any relevant offerings in regional schools.

    Faculty in schools of education will regularly connect with the computer science teacher community of practice events and computer science education research publications in order to include current best practices in coursework.

  • Faculty of education at JSU will connect with members of JSU’s CSET who are running professional development for in-service teacher preparation to identify needs and best practices.

    Faculty preparing courses for future teachers will review example syllabi or program outlines from other institutions for common practices.

    The College of Education will make sure teacher candidates have content preparation aligned with national and relevant state standards for computer science education, in coordination with the Research & Curriculum Unit at Mississippi State University.

  • JSU’s College of Education will work to eventually commit tenure-track faculty lines and resources in collaboration with departments of computer science to support teaching and research in computer science education.

    JSU’s College of Education will hire tenure-track faculty who work in computing education research into STEM education lines and encourage their collaboration with computer science faculty.

    JSU’s College of Education will count computer science education research published in conference proceedings at the same level as journal publications to allow junior faculty to get promoted and tenured.

  • JSU’s College of Education will explore offering graduate coursework, certificate programs, or even master’s degrees in computer science education. These programs will seek to align with state certification efforts to enable teachers who are new to computer science to obtain any necessary licenses.

    It is vital for secondary teacher education programs to develop and provide courses for preparing teachers with experiences and background in teaching introductory and Advanced Placement computer science courses.

    The teacher education program will hire computer science education specialists, just like they have subject matter specialists for science, mathematics, or literacy topics, who not only teach courses but can also supervise and mentor pre-service elementary and secondary teachers.

  • JSU’s College of Education will identify examples of integrated computer science education to include in coursework for education students in other disciplines. These examples most likely will be sourced from currently funded NSF projects.

    The faculty and students will interact with students and faculty from other departments on campus that use computer science to solve problems and explore hypotheses in their own disciplines. Possible activities for this include welcoming speakers to education classes or inviting faculty from other departments to speak in the school of education about their work.

    Faculty and students in JSU’s College of Education will seek out case studies of interventions that did not produce learning gains in the multiple disciplines attempted in an interdisciplinary project and discuss what may have inhibited the learning.

  • JSU’s College of Education will ensure through programmatic requirements that K-8 teachers receive basic literacy instruction in computer science as well as foundational computer science education pedagogical instruction.

    The faculty will have opportunities to familiarize themselves with relevant K-12 computer science education standards for integration into core pedagogical coursework.

    Candidates for ELL or special education licenses or certificates should include cases or examples with computer science instruction as a part of their training.

  • Computer science educational leaders will participate in conferences and gatherings of educational leadership communities (including superintendents, principals, etc.). Having computer science educators and researchers in these conferences will bring visibility to practicing educational leaders who are often mentors for new administrators.

  • JSU’s College of Education and the college of computer science will work together to define opportunities for interdisciplinary coursework for interested computer science education PhD candidates.

    Current computer science education faculty will propose and seek funding for workshops for leaders of schools of education to promote understanding of quality computer science education publications and CVs for faculty candidates.

    If there are current faculty engaged in computer science education research, the school will seek to highlight opportunities for PhD candidates to work with these faculty. If not, the College of Education will consider hiring candidates with computer science education research experience to produce a well-rounded faculty.

sourced from CS for All’s 2018 report