“We cannot affect change at the high school level by working only in the high schools. We have to start younger, with all children, so that we can normalize computer science. Only then will it be something that we all do, rather than something that only a small subset of the population does.”
Jim Ryan, SFUSD’s Executive Director for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)
Elementary School
In grades PK-5, our primary goals are to expose all students to computer science in order to generate excitement and develop transferable skills. Every year, all students will receive about 20 hours of CS instruction. While it may be advantageous to have teachers begin teaching CS, many current teachers lack background knowledge and skills, and it would be challenging to train all classroom teachers in a new subject. Instead, centrally-supported specialists will push into elementary classrooms for one lesson every 1-2 weeks to deliver content alongside the classroom teacher. Most CS lessons will be integrated with literacy and math standards.
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Middle School
Each year in the middle grades, all students will take a trimester-long enrichment course as part of an exploratory wheel. In these courses, students will develop the foundational knowledge and skills that will be necessary for their success in college and career. They will be challenged to think critically, use computing to solve real-world problems, and build upon their mathematical knowledge, as well as explore the societal impacts of computing. The trimester-long courses will be taught by dedicated CS specialists that are hired by school sites but developed and supported centrally.
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High School
We expect that exposure to engaging, relevant computer science instruction in earlier grade levels will greatly increase interest in pursuing CS at the high school level. In grades 9-12, students will elect to continue studying computer science. All students will have a menu of CS opportunities, no matter in which school they are enrolled. Our goals are to greatly expand participation in CS courses and prepare students for further studies or work in college and career, but even more importantly, we seek to ensure that the students accessing CS mirror the diverse population of our schools, rather than the narrow population of the current tech workforce.
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Implementation Timeline
Our ultimate goal is to reach every child in the district, but we also recognize that this cannot happen overnight. We have made steadfast progress in actualizing our commitment, and we expect to fully implement our policy by school year 2020-2021.
