The center of your CT pathway will be a competency map. A competency map is a document that articulates learning opportunities and integration points for computing across multiple disciplines in every grade K-12 (see the Example Pathways page for examples of competency maps). In this portion of the development process, the leadership team will develop your map and engage with external stakeholders (e.g. teachers) to get feedback. Throughout the creation process, it is important to center the equity goal that your leadership team developed at the beginning of the process and think about how each learning opportunity will intentionally include students who experience marginalization in computing. Importantly, the process of building your pathway will be an iterative one. Your team should continuously revisit the equity goal, visioning, and identified groundwork from the Plan phase as well as pilot and get feedback to make iterative changes to the pathway.
Based on state standards and definitions of computational thinking, select 4-6 competencies that are relevant to your district. These will be the competencies students build upon year to year.
Identify synergies between your identified competencies,state or district computer science standards and relevant disciplinary standards.
Connect with other stakeholders to get their feedback on your drafted CT Pathway. Then, plan a pilot to test out the pathway and gather feedback to make iterative improvements.
Throughout the pathway development process, it is important to both continuously gather feedback and make sure that the competencies and materials align within and across grade levels. These two steps exist across the plan, build, and implement phases. While resources for each are included in this section, it is important to attend to them throughout the iterative process, particularly coming back to feedback from individuals affected by the pathway.
Collect feedback about the district vision, competency mapping, and implementation. This can be done both formally (e.g. survey) or informally (e.g. ask a colleague to share some thoughts).
To ensure students are receiving cumulative and consistent opportunities, align competencies vertically from grade to grade and horizontally across disciplines in the same grade.
Computational Thinking