Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Monday used this week's observance of Computer Science Education Week to announce that he has allocated $500,000 in state funds for computer science education lessons in elementary and middle schools.
Hutchinson, who has made computer science education in all grades a top priority of his administration, announced the initiative via video to a Code.org Computer Science Education Week event in San Mateo, Calif.
Also Monday, Code.org and the Computer Science Teachers Association recognized the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts in Hot Springs as one of five inaugural Champions for Computer Science, selected from a pool of nearly 1,000 nominees.
The $500,000 in state funding will provide stipends of up to $2,000 to elementary and middle school computer science teachers who undertake training on higher-level computer science concepts and on how to assist other teachers with embedding Arkansas' computer science standards into all academic subject areas.
"This new K-8 stipend reinforces our commitment to provide the best education, starting with the early years," Hutchinson said.
To be eligible for the stipend, computer science lead teachers must be licensed educators within an Arkansas public elementary or middle school, attend a five-day training session provided at no cost by the Arkansas Department of Education's Office of Computer Science, obtain a computer science endorsement on their Arkansas educator's licenses and provide a requisite number of both one-on-one support and schoolwide professional development hours.
"Governor Hutchinson has been a leader in recognizing and catalyzing the teacher-led movement to bring computer science into our schools," Hadi Partovi, chief executive officer of Code.org, said in a prepared statement Monday. "He's helped grow this movement in the state of Arkansas and is an example for other governors in the U.S. on how to make this subject part of our school day."
The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts' designation this week as a Champion for Computer Science is in response to the school's efforts to provide computer science education at its campus but also in schools throughout the state with its Coding Arkansas' Future initiative.
Coding Arkansas' Future courses are taught online to students statewide by Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts faculty.
The school "has been committed to computer science education since the program began in 1993," Corey Alderdice, director of the residential high school for gifted juniors and seniors, said. "Recognition of our efforts to champion computer science and coding across our residential program, educator development initiatives, and enrichment programs by Computer Science Teachers of America and Code.org underscores Arkansas' national leadership in the movement to promote computer science for all."
Metro on 12/05/2017