April 2025 Newsletter
CSinPA
Spring into Action!
CSinPA Administrator Survey
Complete the CSinPA Administrator Survey for a $50 gift card!
The CSinPA team at PaTTAN and PDE are working with the American Institutes for Research (AIR), a non-profit social science research organization, to administer a survey to all K-12 district, school, and career and technical center administrators across the Commonwealth.
Administrators, check your inbox for an email containing a personalized survey link!
Eligible administrators should have received an email with a personalized link on March 24, 2025. Your input is vitally important as PDE will use survey responses when designing future CS and STEM education initiatives and funding opportunities.
What's in it for you?
First 200 respondents receive a $50 electronic gift card.
Each respondent will be eligible to participate in a drawing for a technical assistance package to expand K-12 computer science (CS) education, including supporting resources and stipends valued at $10,000.
All respondents will be eligible to participate in three raffles for:
one of 10, $100 electronic gift cards
one of 45 sets of 1-year Computer Science Teacher Association memberships
one of 60 classroom sets of micro:bits
The survey is open until April 18, 2025. Learn more about the survey.
Shout-Outs and Celebrations
K-8 CS Sparks Project
Showcase K-8 CS learning in your school with CS Sparks!
K-8 educators are invited to submit a project that shows students' excitement about CS - whether it’s a short video, collection of drawings, poems, songs, or something else!
Boost your students' creativity and passion for CS while showcasing the amazing work happening in your school! CS Sparks submissions may be featured in the CSinPA toolkits, publications, and media, such as the newsletter and virtual community of practice.
The first 100 respondents will receive a 1-year CSTA+ membership. Additionally, all respondents who submit projects by May 30, 2025 will be eligible to participate in one of four raffles for:
one of 2 Elementary CS Book Collections
one of 2 Secondary CS Book Collections
one of 2 Classroom sets of Micro:bit (20)
one of 2 Classroom sets of Dash Robots (6)
See an example submission from Erik Wittmer (South Western School District).
Get more involved in exploring and celebrating K8 computer science by joining Erik in the ECEP-PA K8 workgroup. Contact ECEP-PA co-leads, Sara Frey (sfrey@pattan.net) and Bill Mongan (billmongan@gmail.com) to learn more!.
We want to give a big shout-out to Erik for leading this project. The idea came out of discussions in the ECEP-PA K8 work group about ways to learn more about what CS learning looks like in K8 classrooms.
Erik Wittmer is in his 24th year of being in education, with the last 8 as an Instructional Coach and STEAM GUY. During his day he could work with kindergartners and coding, middle schools flying drones, and high schoolers building robots.
Professional Learning
Accessible Programming with Quorum Summer PD Opportunity
Join us for a 4-day in-person professional development workshop at the PaTTAN Central Office (June 9-12, 2025) focused on inclusive and accessible computer science programming using the Quorum language.
This workshop offers hands-on experience with Quorum, a language designed for accessibility and ease of learning, along with best practices and resources to help you integrate accessible programming into your classroom. Eligible participants will also receive travel assistance, ACT 48 hours, and a $250 stipend. Spaces are limited , so don’t wait! Click here to learn more and fill out the interest form: https://secure.smore.com/n/1stan.
New: Cybersecurity Education Pathway for 7-12/CTE educators
Are you ready to empower your students with the skills they need to thrive in the fast-growing field of cybersecurity? We’re excited to invite you to the 7-12/CTE Cybersecurity Education Pathway, a comprehensive professional development program designed to equip you with the knowledge, tools, and resources to implement a cutting-edge cybersecurity curriculum in your school.
Program Highlights:
Live 2-day Kickoff Event: Join us for an engaging in-person kickoff on June 25-26 to launch your journey with Module A: Introduction to Cybersecurity and Module B: Cybersecurity Frameworks and Standards
Stipend & Travel Support for Live 2-day event: Participants will receive a stipend and travel expenses for the kickoff event.
Flexible Learning: After the kickoff, the remaining modules will be delivered virtually and asynchronously, with one module per month starting in August.
Industry-Aligned Curriculum: Learn how to align your teaching with industry standards, certifications, and frameworks like CSTA, NIST, and CIS.
Hands-On Labs: Gain practical experience with cybersecurity tools and techniques through interactive lab activities.
Capstone Project: Develop and present a cybersecurity unit map or lesson plan to showcase your learning.
Stipend Provided: End of pathway stipend will also be given upon completion of pathway and submission of capstone project.
If this is for you, learn more and fill out the interest form to reserve your seat in the PD and two day Summer Kickoff on June 25-26 2025 by clicking this link.
Computer Science and Career Ready Skills - Preparing Students for the 21st Century
Join our friends at NCWIT Counselors for Computing in exploring the crosswalk of PA Career Ready Skills & the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) Student Standards: Mindsets & Behaviors for Student Success with the PA Adopted Computer Science (CS) Standards! Participants will explore how these standards intersect and allow for infusion of valuable career ready skills, while showcasing sample content.
Participants will have the opportunity to provide feedback on the crosswalk, which will be published with the PaTTAN CS Toolkit for state-wide use. This is a valuable opportunity to contribute to a resource that will help educators and school counselors across Pennsylvania prepare students for success in the 21st century.
The live webinar will take place April 9, 2025 from 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM
Events
2025 CSTA UnConference - Saturday, April 5th
Join us for an interactive event featuring guided discussions with CSTA Chapter Leaders and PaTTAN consultants. All K-12 educators are welcome to attend. Participants will break out into smaller groups to tackle key topics in CS education such as: broadening participation in CS, teaching CS with evidence-based practices, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence in computing.
The first 50 registrants will be eligible to receive a 1-year CSTA+ Membership if they complete the conference activities. Additionally, all eligible participants will be entered into a special drawing for one classroom set of micro:bit.
There is no cost to participate and Act 48 hours will be provided. Registration will remain open until the morning of the UnConference. Please click this link to register for the event on the PaTTAN website.
2025 CS Camp: Code Arcade
The CS Camp: Code Arcade will be a part of PaTTAN’s 2025 Bridging Knowledge to Know-How Conference. This three-and-a half day camp offers an exciting hands-on computer science experience designed for high school students with disabilities!
Camp Details:
Dates: Monday, July 28 - Thursday, July 31, 2025
Location: A school in close proximity to The Penn Stater Conference Center
Eligibility: High School students with disabilities entering grades 9-12 in fall 2025 (at least one parent or guardian must attend the Bridging Knowledge to Know-How conference).
Fees: Free to attend, with limited scholarships available for parents/caregivers.
Campers will dive into computer science college and career pathways through hands-on activities, an engaging field trip, and an exciting game design project!
Registration is open now until June 15th. Space is limited, and spots will be filled in the order in which registrations are received. Check out this SMORE for more details.
For more information, contact us at CSCamp@pattan.net.
Micro-Credential Program
Registration is now open for the final cohort of the 2024-2025 School year in our Micro-credential Program.
The following courses are available:
AI in the Classroom: Introduction (2-hour)
AI in the Classroom: Integrating AI to Support Student Learning (4- hour)
Cybersecurity in the K-8 classroom: Introduction (2-hour)
Using Music to Engage Students in CS Learning (4-hour)
Empowering all students in CS Learning through a Behavioral approach (4-hour)
Additionally, Introduction to CS Education (3 hours) is available on the SAS website. This is our previous foundational CSinPA: Why, What, and How, which can be accessed through the PD Center on the Standards Aligned System (SAS) website. Click the link and follow the instructions to enroll.
Resources & Opportunities
Mentors Needed for CSinPA Cert Support Crew
To help increase the number of qualified CS teachers in Pennsylvania, CSinPA is recruiting experienced, certified CS educators to serve as mentors for the CSinPA CS Cert Support Crew.
These mentors will be compensated to support Pennsylvania 7-12 educators participating in the Praxis Prep Pathway starting in the 2025-26 school year, helping them be successful on the CS exam and get certification.
To learn more about the requirements and to apply please visit this link.
CSinPA Landscape Report
The CSinPA Landscape Report establishes a baseline assessment of computer science (CS) education in Pennsylvania, to inform and support goals, policies, and practices for broadening participation and success in CS. Written during the 2023-24 school year, the CSinPA Landscape Report was developed by a working group of researchers, educators, school administrators, community members, and industry representatives, as part of Pennsylvania’s involvement in the Expanding Computing Education Pathways (ECEP) Alliance.
Based on report recommendations, working groups were formed:
Accessibility: Creating accessible CS learning resources and activities
Out-of-School (OOS) Learning: Identifying and mapping OOS CS opportunities
Dual Enrollment (DE): Surveying DE programs to understand and categorize current offerings
K-8 CS Data: Developing strategies for collecting and reporting K-8 CS participation data
Higher Ed. Data: Gathering data on enrollment and completion in post-secondary CS programs
Everyone is welcome to get involved in ECEP-PA! For more information, contact ECEP-PA co-leads, Dr. Sara Frey (sfrey@pattan.net) and Dr. Bill Mongan (billmongan@gmail.com).
PAID Opportunity for Postsecondary CS Students
The CSinPA team is excited to announce a paid opportunity for computer science (CS) students to guest moderate our CSinPA Community of Practice.
This program is a week-long commitment requiring approximately 4 hours total, and consists of leading discussions and sharing insights with our virtual community of practice. If you know of any students who might be interested, please share the program overview and application.
Guest moderators will receive a stipend of $100 after completion.
Thank you for helping us share this opportunity!
Join CSinPA in Shaping Future Drone Pilots!
The CSinPA team partnered with Tech Kids Unlimited to create an accessible FAA curriculum designed to engage and inspire your students as they embark on their journey to becoming skilled drone pilots.
The curriculum is 100% free and educators do not need to be licensed drone pilots to use it. Key features include effective study aids for exam preparation, resources that familiarize students with essential acronyms and terms, and assessment quizzes to track progress after each lesson. Our curriculum can be found on our website at this link..
We welcome your involvement! Please complete this interest form.or email us at csforall@pattan.net with any questions.
7-12 CS Praxis peer tutoring program
The peer tutoring program for teachers preparing for the PA 7-12 CS certification exam is back for 2024-25! We continue to offer the program to participants in any current or previous PaTTAN 7-12 CS professional learning program (7-12 PAsmart 1.0/2.0, CSinPA 7-12 CS Praxis Prep pathway).
For more information on the CSinPA 7-12 Praxis Prep pathway for the 2025-25 school year please click here.
Student Opportunity: High School Student Spotlight
Applications are open for the High School Student Spotlight at the upcoming Global Impact Forum (TGIF) 2025 on November 4th from 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM in Pittsburgh, hosted by Penn State University.
This is a fantastic free opportunity for students to showcase their initiatives and engage with a diverse group of influential leaders, innovators, and educators dedicated to driving positive change through education and innovation.
Why Encourage Your Students to Apply?
Engage with Visionary Organizations:
Showcase Their Initiatives:
Network with Change-Makers:
Application Details:
For more information on the Student Spotlight and application instructions, please visit: TGIF 2025 – Student Spotlight
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