Strategic CSforALL Resource & Implementation Planning Tool

A big thank you to the AccessComputing group for enabling me to attend the CSforALL SCRIPT (Strategic CSforALL Resource & Implementation Planning Tool) Symposium at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in San Diego, California from January 14 – 17. I learned about what schools and states are doing to improve K-12 computer science education.

The workshop was aimed at school districts, state departments of education, and partner organizations to help get computer science education into every K-12 school. I represented myself as a partner organization because of my work starting an after-school computer club at the South Carolina School for the Blind. I hope that with the tools I learned at the symposium to expand our offerings, either during the school day or as part of after school activities.

During the symposium, I lead a breakout session about including students with disabilities in computer science education. It was successful and led to some interesting questions and conversations from participants. One district represented in my group had never previously thought about including students with disabilities as a target demographic for inclusion. I would suggest that all the districts and states be required to participate in a diversity inclusion session.

I also got to meet and collaborate with 150 education leaders from 14 states. I hope that my message to encourage participation of students with disabilities in computer science will impact someone down the road. If it does, then I have served my purpose to make getting an accessible education easier.

Check out some further reading about CSforALL and the SCRIPT Symposium.