Under the leadership of Jennifer Michalek, the Connecticut State Department of Education's Computer Science Advisory Committee advocates for equitable access to computer science education for all students in Connecticut.
 
There are many members of this committee that are also members of the CT CSTA.  Here is a partial list of results and resources from the State Department of Education effort and elsewhere to help you understand and advocate for change locally.
Related Resources Provided by the CT State Department of Education:
  • includes early (2014, 2015) meeting agendas 
  • Guide to Careers in CS
  • Main focus in 2014: Researching and Defining CS
2016-04-06 - Trinity Professor Ralph Morelli, CCSU Professor Bradley Kjell, CTCSTA President Chinma Uche, and Pauline Lake petition the Commissioner of the CT State Board of Education to make computer science satisfy existing high school graduation requirements for math or science.
POSITION STATEMENT:  In 2016-2017, the CS Advisory Group developed a CS Position Statement.  The goal of this document was to explain what Computer Science is for the CT State Board of Education.  It was adopted in October, 2018.
CS STANDARDS: In 2017-2018, committees of computer science teachers from K-16 met to discuss the best standards to define what CS should look like in Connecticut schools.  These standards were adopted in June, 2018.
In 2018, the focus of the CS Advisory Group turned to how to best support districts in implementation of Computer Science Standards.  This IMPLEMENTATION DOCUMENT is a result of that work.
 
This DRAFT COMPUTER SCIENCE IMPLEMENTATION PLAN was presented to the CT State Board of Education on November 6, 2019.
CT CSTA ADVOCACY COMMITTEE UPDATES
 
CT CSTA Leaders and Membership played a major role in working with the Connecticut General Assembly to develop legislature to promote K-12 computer science education. 
  • In 2015, CT CSTA worked to help pass Public Act No. 15-94 (LINK HERE) which added computer programming instruction to the coursework that all Connecticut public schools must offer.
  • In 2019, CT CSTA worked to help pass Public Act No. 19-128 (LINK HERE) which expanded the requirement from computer programming instruction to computer science, took steps to increase the number of computer science teachers, and established a computer science education account, among other actions.  
  • In 2020, the CS Summit (organized by ReadyCT, Sacred Heart University, and CTCSTA) acknowledged the efforts of State Senators James Maroney, Douglas McCrory and Kevin Witkos by honoring them as the first CS4CT Leadership Award Recipients.  Congratulations, Senators Maroney, McCrory and Witkos!!  Here is the press release on Patch.com.
We need your help with advocacy!  Please contact Norm Sondheimer, Advocacy Committee Chair, sondheimer@cs.umass.edu.