The Oregon Department of Education released its first statewide plan for computer science education late last year. The chief goal is for all K-12 public schools to offer some level of computer science classes by the 2027-28 school year. The plan received some initial funding through the governor’s office but has yet to receive long-term funding from the state Legislature.
Joanna Goode is the Sommerville Knight Professor in the University of Oregon College of Education. She helped create Exploring Computer Science, a curriculum and professional development program used in schools across the country. She joins us to talk about the work computer science teachers are already doing in Oregon and what it would take to make the state’s plan a reality.
Note: This transcript was computer generated and edited by a volunteer.
Dave Miller: From the Gert Boyle Studio at OPB, this is Think Out Loud. I’m Dave Miller. The Oregon Department of Education released its first statewide plan for computer science education last year. The chief goal is for every single K-12 public school to offer some level of computer science classes by the fall of 2027. The plan received some initial funding through the governor’s office but no long-term funding from the state Legislature. Joanna Goode is the Sommerville Knight Professor in the University of Oregon’s College of Education. She has worked to create computer science curricula around the country and she joins us for an update on what’s happening in Oregon. Joanna, welcome back.
Joanna Goode: Thank you.
Miller: A recent University of Oregon press release pointed out that for years Oregon ranked dead last – 50th out of 50 states – in its investments in K-12 computer science education. Is that still the case?
Goode: Actually, Dave, it is still the case, though there has been some great progress. So if we look at state policies across the nation, in terms of having things like statewide computer science specialists, content standards and funding for computer science education, Oregon has been the last in terms of investment.
However, this past year, as you just mentioned, we began making some progress by releasing a statewide Computer Science Education Implementation Plan that outlined what computer science education could look like in Oregon if we were to start climbing up from being dead last, in terms of investment for computer science.
Miller: We’re going to dig into what that could mean. But I’m just curious, I mean, I think of Oregon as being relatively tech friendly. I think of it as thinking about itself as being tech friendly, plenty of software companies, plenty of hardware makers as well. Obviously, a huge chip maker presence in Intel. How do you explain the relative lack of investment in CS education, given the way we like to think of ourselves?
Goode: Yes, that’s a great question. I think there’s so many schools and teachers doing some computer science education, but it hasn’t been organized at the state level. So there hasn’t been a great deal of cohesion for students across these schools, or a bigger plan to imagine what a K-12 pathway of computer science education might look like. So while there are spots of activities, some funded externally by the National Science Foundation and other places, nothing has been deeply embedded within the Oregon Department of Education to be offered at all schools across the State of Oregon.
Miller: So let’s turn to this first Computer Science Implementation Plan that came out late last year. What are the big things that the plan calls for?
Goode: Yes, the big things that the plan calls for are opportunities to learn computer science for all students. And that is broken down into thinking about elementary schools, offering computer science, perhaps integrated with other subjects in those schools, as well as offering courses at the high school level to ensure that no matter which high school students go to, they have the opportunities to take computer science.
In order to offer those opportunities, we need teachers who are prepared and supported to not only teach the topic but also build computer science education programs in their schools. And that takes funding as well as having things like state content standards and a state specialist to help steward in these efforts, so that there is some cohesion and equitable implementation for students.
Miller: Because right now, there are not enough computer science teachers to teach those courses?
Goode: That’s right. Right now, we only have 60% of high schools even offering a single computer science course. And a big part of that is teacher capacity to be able to teach these courses at their schools.
Miller: And the plan is for every single high school to have at least one course or even more?
Goode: Two courses and at least one should be an introductory foundational course. So a course that is available for all students without any prerequisites that covers the scope of computer science.
Miller: How would that requirement, two classes in every single Oregon high school, compare to the standard among other states, if we can even say that there is a standard?
Goode: It does compare. Other states have graduation requirements for computer science. So they go beyond offering a computer science class in each school and really think about offering computer science classes for each student in the school. And that’s a pretty dramatic shift. That’s one of those policies that, if and when Oregon gets to that point, will require additional capacity.
But it also really gets to this notion of computer science for all students rather than just keeping computer science on the periphery, without the capacity to offer learning opportunities for students who might be interested. But if the course is already filled, they aren’t able to get in there.
Miller: What does it mean to say that a kindergartner is taking a computer science class or has, as part of their lessons, computer science components? What should a kindergartner or a first grader be learning?
Goode: There has been a project out of Southern Oregon that has looked at some of the K-5 computer science education. They’ve landed on thinking about computational thinking as an approach for our younger students in classrooms. Computational thinking leverages some of these concepts and strategies from computer science and applies them to different academic disciplines such as the arts or math, science, or social studies. It allows them to think about the process more generally [by] breaking up big problems into small ones or identifying patterns.
One activity that is often popular with elementary students – and we actually use it with high school courses as well – is asking students to describe and write down the directions for making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, for example. So the precision of which face do you put the peanut butter on? How do you take the bread out of a bag? Being really precise with those directions and realizing that that’s how a computer thinks is something that even younger students can access, and gives them an appreciation for future concepts like programming and giving computers directions, which take things very literally.
Miller: With the idea that even if you don’t know what bread is, you don’t know any of the things, write the directions in a clear enough way that it’s replicable and that you don’t have to say jelly where your fingers are touching?
Goode: That’s right. And we, in the high school space, have this lesson and the teacher or student will act as a robot and actually read the directions and follow them literally. And it rarely turns out the way you might think a peanut butter and jelly sandwich should look.
Miller: So just to be clear, is this the first ever Computer Science Implementation Plan at the state level? Is this a mandate? Do schools have to have all of these classes up and running by the 2027-2028 school year or is it an aspiration?
Goode: It is very much an aspiration at this point. In order to deliver on this promise or this aspiration, we need legislative action to endorse the CS Implementation Plan, to invest in the statewide specialist, and bring these classes to schools in ways that are not optional, or for some schools, but really has the outcome of all schools having computer science. And it’s estimated that this will cost about $20 million per biennium in order to bring the Computer Science Implementation Plan to life.
Miller: You mentioned the computer science education specialist. What is that person going to be doing?
Goode: That person has already been tasked with bringing together listening groups and a committee to develop this Implementation Plan. So that was the first step. And then the next step is beginning with some computer science optional standards. What these standards will do is outline the scope and sequence of learning from kindergarten all the way up through 12th grade. This plan or these standards also have a committee working on them to really delineate what those learnings should look like in these different elementary spaces, middle school spaces and high school spaces.
So the importance of this state specialist in overseeing this process being embedded within Oregon Department of Education (ODE) is to ensure that the ODE equity mandates are also present in these computer science education efforts. So really leading the charge and, frankly, also helping to establish computer science as an academic field, just like math and social studies and other subjects in schools.
Miller: I’m glad you mentioned those other ones because I asked you a similar version of this question the last time you were on, five or so years ago. But I think it’s worth asking again since things have only gotten worse since the pandemic. Less than half of Oregon students tested as proficient in English last year. Less than a third did so in math and science. When we are doing such a poor job with the basics, statewide, does it make sense to put more of our limited K-12 resources towards computer science?
Goode: I think it does make sense. I can’t imagine a subject area that is more relevant and touches students, and communities, and society’s life more than computer science. And certainly, layering on computer science on top of these other academic areas is important to building those skills. Also realize that students can be very engaged with computer science.
One of the gifts that computer science gives is being able to do project-based activities, hands-on learning, creating new innovations rather than being a consumer or a recipient of someone else’s technology. And I think that engagement will benefit students not only in computer science but across content areas.
Miller: What do you think would need to happen politically for lawmakers to do what you want them to do? As you mentioned, the estimate is $20 million a biennium to pay for this to happen. And that goes for the implementation of this and a lot of it goes to hiring teachers.
Goode: That’s right. For about seven years, we’ve been working on building computer science education, as a collaborative effort, with the University of Oregon, Portland State University and Oregon State University Cascades. And we’ve received millions of dollars in order to do this work.
I think it’s time for the legislature to realize that in order to sustain computer science education in Oregon, it needs to invest in our students the ways that other states around Oregon have invested financially, to ensure that their students are not going to get left behind. So I hope that recognition of some initial seed work has been established. But really, we need our legislature to step up and recognize that computer science education is not a privilege for a few students but should be a right for all students in Oregon.
Miller: Joanna Goode, thanks very much.
Goode: Thank you.
Miller: Joanna Goode is the Sommerville Knight Professor in the University of Oregon’s College of Education. She joined us to talk about the effort to increase the availability and accessibility of Oregon’s K-12 computer science classes.
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