Hi Rachel - Good for you and South Dakota for moving forward with this important step in getting access to CS education for students by having an adopted set of standards so there is a common expectation! Tennessee had this experience in 2022 and at that time we were told that we could support the standards any way we wanted to but if we spoke or advocated as a teacher organization, we had the weight of one opinion. The best advice we got was to advocate our support by using all the tools at our disposal from our own professional teaching networks to online networks and personal social media to encourage anyone (not just teachers but community members, parents, industry professionals) to view the standards and offer a piece of feedback whether it was agreement and support or suggestion for modifications. The volume of comments is seen as public engagement with the issue so the more voices heard, the better. This is not a case of an organization having more influence because they represent many but the bottom line of how important is this to the average citizen of our state. And engagement and interest can be mined later for funding to pay for resources based on citizen engagement.
Good luck with your efforts!
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Becky Ashe
CSTA Tennessee, Director of Professional
Knoxville TN
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-16-2024 21:22
From: Rachel Pierson
Subject: Endorsement of State Standards
Hi Chapter Leaders!
In South Dakota, the state has proposed new Computer Science Standards for grades K-8.
My question for other chapter leaders is this: Should our chapter formally endorse or show approval of the proposed standards? What would that look like? A press release? Blog post? All of the above?
As of the first public feedback meeting, there was no one who had submitted public comments or attended the in-person meeting to advocate for the standards. I think that CSTA-SD can be a voice to advocate for state standards... I just need a little help from someone who may have experienced this before.
Thanks in advance for any help!
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Rachel Pierson k12teacher
Sioux Falls SD
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