At our November meeting, members discussed many options for holding Hour of Code activities at the elementary, middle and high school levels. In addition, Ashley Chance and Morgan Franklin from JP Morgan Chase & Co. joined us and shared the company’s focus on partnering with schools: The vision of DE Youth Technology Pathways is “to guide students through key stages of computer science education, including introduction and safety, guidance, and ultimately inspiration to choose a career in technology.” Some of their offerings include Cyberkidz, LEGO Challenge, and GenTech.
Luke Rhine, Director of Career & Technical Education STEM Initiatives in the Delaware Department of Education, joined us to provide updates on the many changes coming soon to Delaware’s CTE programs specifically in terms of program funding with a new state plan. Highlights include expanding funding to 6th grade CTE programs (currently/historically only 7th and 8th grade received funding for middle school programs) and a plan to expand post-secondary opportunities for students wanting to pursue a career in technology. Luke also shared that there is a push at UD to expand their 4-year computer science program offerings, and that ZipCode Wilmington’s program is NOT going to replace the current state model CS Pathway, but rather is a supplement to CS education in some Delaware high schools. Finally, there has been no movement in terms of training for high school teachers for the 3rd CS Pathway course: AP CSA, but Luke is very interested in working with the DE CSTA chapter to diligently work on this.
Many more details can be found recorded on the slide deck for this meeting - AVAILABLE HERE.