What's NEWs in Computer Science?

We have several updates for you from the first semester of this school year. They include reminders about West Hartford's Hour of CS, areas of improvement and next steps for CS, some information about the Lieutenant Governor's Coding Challenge, our team updates, and some changes to course options at the high school level. Finally, we'll end with some links for you to continue your learning about AI and/or CS AND a poll about what should be in the edition next semester.

If you are viewing this on a computer, you can use the Table of Contents to the left to navigate to the updates you are most interested in learning about. Please remember that you can reach out to jackie_corricelli@whps.org if you ever want to talk about computer science generally or here in West Hartford.

We created this site to give you and your students a place to begin to learn about computer science in a way that is connected to your coursework and interests.

There are two ways to use the site:

1. You can use the "New to coding?" link to quickly navigate to grade level resources.
2. You can use the "Ready for more ideas?" link to explore many resources that are aligned to creative or curricular interests.

At home or in school, with family members or as a curriculum team, we hope that this site helps you to celebrate the Hour of CS sometime between now and February break. One hour of CS can truly make a difference!

After you try these out, please consider sharing feedback for us here. We'd love to know how to make this even better next year!

• DOUBLED the number of adults in our schools that have attended a training in computer science.
• INCREASED the total enrollment in CS classes while MAINTAINING AP Scores that are above state and national averages.
• RECEIVED RECOGNITION at the state level for being representative in terms of our African American / Black and Latinx / Hispanic students in CS coursework.
• INCREASED the number of students who feel like they belong in CS and feel as though they are liked by their peers. Over 90% of our students in our high school CS courses reported feeling this way when we asked in Spring 2023.

There are two main areas that we are focused on improving for computer science education in West Hartford. These are:

1. We want all students to graduate with foundational knowledge in computer science. Currently, only about 25% of our high school students take a single class in computer science. This may or may not be a foundational course. We are working on defining what we mean by "foundational" coursework in CS, how to measure this, and we continue to work toward helping all students see computer science as a necessary course to take in high school.
2. We are working toward parity; where all students are equally likely to sign up for computer science regardless of their gender or racial identity. Here are two data points that indicate that there is still work to be done in this area:

• Our most underrepresented population in computer science continues to be our female population.
• Our African American / Black and Hispanic / Latinx students are underrepresented in AP computer science classes.

If you would like to read our full data analysis from 2023 (to be repeated in 2026), please click here or you can click the image to the right to navigate to our site.

• Website: ltgovcc.org
• Due April 4, 2025
• Any CT student in grades 3-12 is welcome to participate
• Can be done in school or at home
• Can be done independently or as part of a team of up to 5 people, all in the same age group (3-5, 6-8, or 9-12)

1. Decide on the type of challenge you would like to complete. There are three choices: Concept Challenge, Prototype Challenge, Development Challenge. To learn more about each, click here.
2. Decide if you want to participate as a group or independently.
3. Submit your work on the ltgovcc.org site by April 4. If you are in a group, only ONE of the programmers will submit work for the whole team.

For more information on recognition and prizes for both students and teachers, click the image to the left. Good luck!

A February 2023 opinion piece published by the New York Times sums up how artificial intelligence is impacting all of us with this quote: "AI will force us humans to double down on those talents and skills that only humans possess".

The AI Team continues to wrestle with the following questions about AI:

• What is the impact of AI on our schools, teachers and students?
• How will AI change the education system as a whole and how can we be prepared and help our students to do the same?

Our team members include:

• Jeff Billing (Hall HS Math and CS Teacher)
• Kelly Casey (Conard HS Library Media Specialist)
• Jackie Corricelli (District CS Curriculum Specialist)
• Lisa Daly (Department Supervisor of Physical Education and Health Education/Wellness)
• Eileen Eustis (Director of Secondary Education)
• Lindsay Goltzman (Math Quest and Quest Teacher)
• Natalie Leake (Conard English / Language Arts Teacher)
• Anne McKernan (Assistant Superintendent)
• Dave St. Germain (KP Library Media Specialist)
• Melissa Thom (Bristow Library Media Specialist)

We are proud of the work that we've accomplished. This includes:

1. District Wide AI Statement, included in Middle School and High School Student and Teacher Handbooks: "West Hartford Public Schools recognizes the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and is committed to supporting the school community in the ethical, authentic, and innovative use of AI. WHPS believes in embracing new technologies responsibly to improve productivity while upholding academic integrity and fostering curiosity and a love of learning."
2. District PD on Election Day (November 2024). This involved our members as well as the following district leaders in AI: Hera Butt, Corinne Byrne, Rachel Caravella, Mary Carlson, Sean Collins, Tara Ehler, Amanda Goeller, Shaena Gray, Kathy Hardesty, Jess Kerelejza, Dana Martin, Meghan Martin, Alisha Mayer, Shannon McNeice, Derek Palmisano, Becky Pauluk, Remz Pokorny, Theresa Rangel, Jen Slifer, Alan Smith, Maggie Sullivan, and Zack Vose. You can view the training anytime at THIS SITE. In addition to the videos, our members and these district leaders ran a Google Meet offering support to their colleagues as they experimented with AI tools. We asked all participants to fill out a survey and the results were very positive. 94% of our respondents said that this hour long PD was an excellent use of their time. We appreciate ALL for being so open and positive as we continue to work to keep up!

We have some exciting plans for Spring 2025 including:

• Growing our team. Want to join The AI Team? Starting in Spring, we will start recruiting for broader participation including parents, students, and educators.
• Dinner with Matt. Food will be provided. Matt Mervis is a national leader committed to moving AI forward safely in public schools. Check out some of the resources he and his team have compiled HERE. You might even like to listen to the podcast that he and the amazing Liz Radday created together. For this PD, there will be two sessions. The first will kick off our work; the second will extend it. More details in the New Year, but mark your calendars:
• 2/24, 4-7pm
• 4/8, 4-7pm

Please reach out to any of us if you have feedback or questions.

Envision CS is a future-facing group of professionals who are committed to analyzing how computer science is going in West Hartford now and setting goals that will move us to the next step.

Starting in December 2023, we formed a partnership with our neighbors in Glastonbury Public Schools and Farmington Public Schools. Like us, they have future facing teams also setting computer science focused goals. We are partnering by meeting annually to hold each other accountable and to learn together.

In the 2023-2024 school year, we are most proud of developing our Pathway Document, envisioning what CS could look like from PreK through high school.

In our reconvening in December 2024, we set the following goals:

1. We will solicit feedback from our leadership teams about this Pathway Document, defining CS from PreK-Grade 8 as well as foundational skills at the high school level
2. We plan to create Graduation Distinctions in computer science for the Class of 2026; we plan to pilot this in the 2025-2026 school year
3. We will perform a technology / tools inventory from PreK-8 to determine tools that are being used and are available to determine connections to our pathway as well as recommendations for teachers who are looking to start to experiment with computer science

Our membership has changed over the years, but our goal remains the same - we want all students to have an exceptional computer science education in West Hartford. Our current members include:

• Dawn Anstett (Bristow MS CS Teacher)
• Ashley Callan (Smith STEM Elementary School Principal)
• Jackie Corricelli (District CS Curriculum Specialist)
• Jessica Evans (Hall HS School Counselor)
• Anne McKernan (Assistant Superintendent)
• Noah Mealy (Conard HS CS Teacher)
• Joseph Tavera (Webster Hill Library Media Specialist)
• Zack Vose (Elementary Curriculum Specialist for STEM)
• Courtney Warner (K-5 District STEM Curriculum Specialist)
• During our most recent meeting, we appreciated Melissa Behrens (Director of Elementary Education) and Jessica Tamaccio (Aiken Library Media Specialist) both of whom stepped in when a few of our members could not attend.

Please reach out to any of our Envision CS Team Members if you have feedback or questions.

• What are the newest courses available for high school students?
• AP Cybersecurity I is the newest course.
• Congratulations to Hall High School's Mr. Wilkosz who applied for and earned a coveted position as a Pilot Teacher for this course in the 2025-2026 school year! That means that Hall HS will be among the first schools in the country who will be able to take the AP Exam, designed to qualify students for college credit.
• This full year course was designed to introduce students to the fundamental concepts of computer networking. Students in AP Cybersecurity I will be prepared to take the CompTIA Network+ exam.
• Human Behavior in a Digital World is entering it's second year. This 1/2 year course is designed for any student who wants to begin to understand CS through the way in which CS has changed our world socially, politically, and economically.
• Which classes have changed?
• We have merged Computer Technology and Robotics into one full year class called Computer Systems & Robotics. This course is an introduction to computer architecture and robotics.
• What is the most popular course right now?
• AP CS Principles and AP CS A are the two most popular courses.
• AP CS Principles is a broad introduction to computer science. AP CS A is focused on java programming and object-oriented design.

• Is there a class that is focused on python programming?
• Absolutely; CS for Data Scientists and Engineers is a UConn ECE class focused on Python Programming. Students earn UConn credit while learning python.

• Could I see all the courses at once? Yes! This link shows all courses at once. Scroll down for a visual that compares and contrasts them.
• If I have questions, who should I talk to?
• All of your math classes will present about CS course options for next year. Your School Counselor and/or Math Teacher would love to help you find the perfect course.
• You could also try our Decision Maker "Quiz", created to match you to your perfect CS course option.
• Finally, you, your counselor, or your teacher could reach out to Mrs. Corricelli (jackie_corricelli@whps.org) with any remaining questions.