On January 25, 2017, UT-Austin announced that WeTeach_CS had received a $5 million grant from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to provide professional development to computer science teachers around the state and to help increase the numbers of certified CS teachers in Texas. This is not the first time TEA has given support to WeTeach_CS. TEA has previously funded initiatives such as the Certification Incentive Program (CIP), however, this is the agency’s largest investment in CS professional development to date.
“TEA’s previous support of WeTeach_CS has already been transformative for districts across the spectrum — from giant urban districts like Houston and Dallas to remote rural districts like Presidio and Iraan-Sheffield,” said Carol Fletcher, director of WeTeach_CS. “In the Houston Independent School District, for example, the number of certified computer science teachers has grown from eight to 29 since 2015 as a result of the HISD-WeTeach_CS partnership. In 2015, the number of students in the district who were enrolled in advanced computer science courses was 151. In 2016, they had 1,042.” Continue reading No Computer Science Education at Your Kid’s School? $5 Million from TEA Is Allowing UT to Change That.
TEA’s support is now allowing WeTeach_CS to create CS Collaboratives around the state in order to better serve teachers in all regions of Texas. If the term collaborative rings a bell, then you might be familiar with the Center for STEM Education’s other major professional development program, Texas Regional Collaboratives (TRC), which has a 20 year track-record of providing training and support to thousands of Texas math and science teachers.
For 2017, 29 CS Collaboratives (listed below) stretching from Beaumont to El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley to Amarillo (map below) will provide training and support to CS teachers in their local communities, while coordinating efforts and resources with each other and WeTeach_CS in Austin, creating a CS professional development network. The grant will also fund a pilot externship program for STEM teachers that seeks to connect teachers to industry in order to bring real world experience back to the classroom to help prepare students for future careers.
This is an exciting time for CS education and we appreciate the support of all of our partners, participants, and funders as we work together for CS for All in Texas!
2017 WeTeach_CS Collaboratives Geographic Distribution
2017 WeTeach_CS Collaboratives
- ESC Region 1 WeTeach_CS Collaborative
- ESC Region 2 WeTeach_CS Collaborative
- Texas State Aquarium WeTeach_CS Collaborative
- ESC Region 3 WeTeach_CS Collaborative
- UTMB – Galveston County WeTeach_CS Collaborative
- Rice University School Mathematics Project WeTeach_CS Collaborative
- Rice University CSTAR WeTeach_CS Collaborative
- University of Houston WeTeach_CS Collaborative
- Fort Bend ISD WeTeach_CS Collaborative
- ESC Region 5 WeTeach_CS Collaborative
- ESC Region 6 WeTeach_CS Collaborative
- UT Tyler WeTeach_CS Collaborative
- ESC Region 8 WeTeach_CS Collaborative
- Dallas ISD WeTeach_CS Collaborative
- UT Dallas WeTeach_CS Collaborative
- ESC Region 12 WeTeach_CS Collaborative
- Coding4TX WeTeach_CS Collaborative
- The University of Texas – TACC – UTeach Outreach – WeTeach_CS Collaborative
- ESC Region 13 WeTeach_CS Collaborative
- Changing Expectations WeTeach_CS Collaborative
- Texas State University WeTeach_CS Collaborative
- ESC Region 14 WeTeach_CS Collaborative
- ESC Region 15 WeTeach_CS Collaborative
- ESC Region 16 WeTeach_CS Collaborative
- ESC Region 18 WeTeach_CS Collaborative
- ESC Region 19 WeTeach_CS Collaborative
- ESC Region 20 WeTeach_CS Collaborative
- OLLU WeTeach_CS Collaborative
- Youth Code Jam WeTeach_CS Collaborative