Computer Science Teachers Association

Empowering, engaging and advocating for K-12 computer science teachers.

Overview 

What they do

The Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) understands that teaching computer science is hard. That’s why their dedicated team and teacher-led Board of Directors focuses on creating a strong environment to support K–12 educators.

Mission: CSTA’s mission is to empower, engage and advocate for K-12 CS teachers worldwide

Why we love them: CSTA has created an amazing community that:

  • Is left by K-12 computer science teachers, and puts teacher needs at the forefront
  • Shares the latest best practices in K-12 computer science education
  • Creates local communities across the US and Canada that make sure every computer science teacher has a home
  • Hosts the largest teacher-led computer science professional development event in the world
  • Provides access to exclusive discounts on courses and tools for teachers

STrategy

Fulfilling the mission

To serve the K-12 space, we created a continued learning pathway for students, since many resources end at the basics. To do this, we partnered with Code.org and mapped Pluralsight content with its curriculum team.

Getting creative
Serving teachers can be difficult because every state has different rules and structures. We work through CSTA, the leading national teacher resource organization, to contribute to a system of solutions. The goal is to provide professional development for CS educators and enable them to build skills with resources that are mapped to national exams and are aligned with CS curriculum. This solution is supported by an ecosystem of community support, national standards, convening, practical curriculum resources and more.

Our strategy

  • Lead with product-based solution
  • Leverage the Pluralsight platform and content library to build a curated library for teachers that aligns to national standards
  • Provide a free resource to help teachers prepare for the Praxis exam and then take concepts to the classroom

Creating community

In addition to working with CSTA to solve for the teacher professional development needs around computer science, Pluralsight One recognizes the power of a national educator community. Together, we are working on improving equality of opportunity and inclusion in CS for students across the nation. We are committed to funding ingenious solutions that teachers have developed, which have proven to increase diversity and inclusion in CS. The intention is to amplify and replicate these models by sharing their innovations with teachers across CSTA's national community, which is why we’ve partnered with Microsoft and CSTA to launch the first national Equity Fellowship.

our partnership

Pluralsight One has created a free, curated course offering for CSTA+ members. It provides established CS teachers and those new to the field with a professional development resource

This offering was designed in partnership with CSTA to: 

  1. Be used as a resource to help educators prepare for national certification exams
  2. Help teachers keep pace with the evolution of technology
  3. Build the depth of knowledge needed to bring concepts to life in relevant and engaging ways for students

 

Curated by expert technologists and mapped to the Praxis exam and national computer science standards, the free library contains over 100 hours of content. It covers everything from how to jumpstart a career in IT to UX design and front end development to Java and Python.

CSTA+ members can also access the full Pluralsight platform at a steeply discounted rate as a continuous learning and professional development opportunity. Learn more and access here

CSTA Equity Fellowship

Pluralsight One funds CSTA's National Equity Fellowship, a program to develop leadership in equitable teaching practices and advocacy. The Equity Fellowship is designed to uplift educators nationally by sharing innovations, supporting inclusive leadership development opportunities and building ongoing, peer-to-peer professional learning experiences focused on addressing issues of equity in the computer science classrooms for all CSTA members. Pluralsight One partnered with Microsoft to fund the inaugural national fellowship cohort in 2019 and now funds expansion of the program as well as alumni support.  Learn more about the Equity Fellowship, apply or nominate a K-12 teacher here

In addition to funding the Equity Fellowship and CSTA chapters nationwide, Pluralsight One also issued a $250,000 grant to support teachers with resources that enable learning continuity during the COVID-19 response and enable CSTA to develop rigorous professional development programming that grows the number of English learner students enrolled in AP Computer Science Programming.

Snapshot 

Measuring the reach of our partnership

CSTA Chapters

  • 18,000+ members, reached 200,000 students
  • 91 CSTA chapters in North America
  • 9 new chapters formed in 2020-2021
  • Professional development programming organized by CSTA chapters has been delivered to hundreds of teachers across the United States this year