College Board Puts Code.org In Charge of AP CS Program 78
theodp writes: "The College Board," reports GeekWire, "is endorsing Code.org as a coursework and teacher training provider for its upcoming AP Computer Science Principles course and will help Code.org fund the teacher training work required to establish new computer science classes." So what's the catch? "Schools that commit to using the [new] PSAT [8/9 assessment] to identify middle school students who have potential for success in computer science will be eligible to receive curriculum, training, and funding for programming classes." The organization is bankrolled by some of tech's wealthiest leaders and their corporations. Code.org board member Brad Smith, Microsoft's General Counsel, proposed the idea of "producing a crisis" to advance Microsoft's "two-pronged" National Talent Strategy to increase K-12 CS education and the number of H-1B visas. Just months thereafter, nonprofit organizations Code.org and Mark Zuckerberg's FWD.us, which is lobbying for H-1B reform, were born.
Re: Happy Friday from The Golden Girls! (Score:1)
"Confidant" not "cosmonaut", unless there is a joke I'm missing.
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That post has said "cosmonaut" since 1999.
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The College board is about one thing - making money - the fact that code.org is in bed with them is rather disturbing.
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According to you. I'm not sure what you guys are upset about. Why is H-1B's even mentioned? The fact is that Code.org has a noble goal, and is executing it. Who else is going to help? The Department of Education? You?
I mean I get it: you don't like the H-1B program. But that has nothing to do with Code.org and the College Board working together. Get a grip.
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Look me up - I've probably done more with less w/r to CS education than anyone out there.
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I wrote about some of my concerns here:
http://cestlaz.github.io/2015/... [github.io]
Then add the negative impact that Gates has had on this country's ed system and follow it up with the fact that none of the players driving the bus are educators.
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I made no reference to H1-B no about Gates making money - try reading what I wrote.
In terms of programs - I'm a teacher so I have neither a voice nor deep pockets. What I do have is the fact that I'm the best at what I do and have built a great team. As the U.S. wrecks its overall ed system and rolls out bad CS the kids that I work with will be in even higher demand.
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You don't know me or my work. Bro-grammer culture? My gender equity numbers blow away most everyone else.
Egotistical ass? Are we name calling now?
My work speaks for itself while you hide behind anonymity.
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It's not name calling, it's accurate classification, Mr. I'm the Best, Doing the Most with Less. Your work--your posts in this thread--absolutely speaks for itself. What is says--shouts, really--is that you're an egomaniac impossible to work with. But keep on with the my-way-or-highway whines here and on your blog about the slights against you. Powerful advocacy, that.
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I'm in the real world - apparently you're not.
No reason to engage in someone not interested in a constructive conversation or debate.
Good day.
Re:And? (Score:4, Insightful)
follow it up with the fact that none of the players driving the bus are educators.
If we look at how well the educators have managed education, maybe it is better to have someone else in charge. Having a degree in education is negatively correlated with effectiveness as a teacher.
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Having a degree in education is negatively correlated with effectiveness as a teacher.
I am curious if you can document this; because, as a teacher, this is not what I have seen. I teacher at a middle school and most, if not all, of the teachers have a Bachelors or a Masters in their field. I addition, most have a masters, or second masters, in Education with several have, or are working on, Doctorates (Ed.D. . . . Right, a Doctorate to keep your job teaching at a Middle School, the system has gone mad).
My grumble aside, I have noticed that the teachers with M.Ed.s' and Ed.D.s' are, in fact,
Re:And? (Score:4)
I have noticed that the teachers with M.Ed.s' and Ed.D.s' are, in fact, better teachers.
There is plenty of research [brookings.edu] showing that advanced education degrees add NO value to the classroom. From the citation: The fact that teachers with master’s degrees are no more effective in the classroom, on average, than their colleagues without advanced degrees is one of the most consistent findings in education research.
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I went and looked at the article you are quoting. The quote you make above earns a footnote; but no citation. The footnote says:
In some studies with very large sample sizes, there are statistically significant differences between teachers with and without MA degrees, but the size of the difference is trivially small.
However, as noted, there is no citation. Further, the article is not about teacher effectiveness at all, it is about teacher pay and the financial value of an M.Ed. for a teacher.
Because there i
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Oh yeah, a school in America's leading, cash-flush metropolis, servicing only gifted students who've made it past the SHSAT.
NYC's specialized high schools are wonderful. But tell some teachers in the Southeast that you're doing more with less and they'll deservedly laugh in your face. You're doing more with more.
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My school is mostly working and middle class and very close to being eligible for title 1 funding. Lots of recent immigrants.
We're a public school and receive no special funding.
What's more, I had to hack the school to build my program - never got any support from the school: http://cestlaz.github.io/2014/... [github.io]
Re:And? (Score:5, Interesting)
Am I supposed to be outraged at this? The summary seems to indicate so. I'm not seeing the issue. Code.org is doing a good job, and is much preferable to the alternative: which is nothing. Don't tell me the Department of Education should be doing this instead.
The way I read it we're supposed to be wary. It says that the organisations campaign for more H1B visas as well as funding these training schemes. I'm not sure of what we should be wary of in relation to these training courses - the organisations would be happy to employ US programmers as long as there are enough H1Bs to keep the wages suppressed.
Re:And? (Score:5, Insightful)
Code.org is doing a good job,
Are they? Why do you even think that?
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So their plan is to make cheap laborers by educating children in CS
Yes, that is exactly their plan. When they started, they kept talking about how we need more programmers. [forbes.com] This is not something hidden, it's something you didn't pay attention to.
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Umm... Same principle. Females are not taking as many courses in programming, therefore there are not as many of them to hire. Once the gender quota is reached then the market may have twice as many domestic programmers as they have currently. It won't actually work out that way due to price signalling causing people to change jobs or avoid the discipline altogether.
At the end, they reach the same outcome. More laborers equate to lower wages for all.
I'm never afraid to compete, I've always been at the top o
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So their plan is to spend millions on code.org and wait 20+ years to flood the market with bad programmers........Because they are teaching kids to do stuff.
Apparently you don't think they are doing very well either.
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No I think they are doing a great job in at least trying.
Do you understand that 'trying' is not the same as 'doing a good job?'
Remember, these are the same people behind common core. If you think they are doing a good job, you should at least have reasons why, otherwise you are mindless.
Do some research, find out how they are doing, and that will be interesting.
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Have you ever taken the time to look at job listings, to see just what businesses are asking for? Keep in mind as you look: If, for whatever reason, a programmer is unfamiliar with any language, tool, development process, framework, or hair-care product listed as a "required skill", said programmer is not "qualified" for the job.
All of which only matters IME if you're new to the industry. Once you've proven yourself, it's a different world. Your problem domain matters a lot, and its damn hard to change disciplines when the time comes (I've had to do it twice now over 24 years, I'm sure I will again). But toolset? I was hired for a Java job despite no Java experience at all, then hired for a C# job with only basic familiarity with C#. In my current job, we only care that mid-career developers have experience with some "curly br
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So their plan is to make cheap laborers by educating children in CS and flooding the labor market with them and H1-B's? Really, you guys are incredible. You think Gates is doing this so labor is cheap for...Microsoft in the future? So he can make more money for...Microsoft?
I know it's hard to believe, but every once in a while you get someone who's capable of thinking past the end of the quarter.
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Unlike many types of jobs, programmers really separate themselves into high and low performers. The old guy with an advanced degree, strong problem solving skills/logical reasoning ability and a mountain of application domain knowledge has nothing to fear from a bunch of wet behind the ears kids who know next to nothing and have learned programming skills in a classroom that they couldn't have taught themselves from a book in a few weeks. Those kids are only a substitute for the low end of the pay scale w
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Until you create an AI that can not only code other things, but intelligently and accurately alter it's own code, programming *is* too complex for automation. Code is, in a quite literal sense, crystallized and replicable thought and action.
The best you can do is write better and better frameworks that make it easier for non-experts to write trivial code, which the highest-level programmers don't want to bother with anyway: they'd rather work on something that challenges them and forces them to learn and t
I knew there was some liberal catch here (Score:3, Interesting)
Typical Silicon Valley liberal bullshit. From Code.org's website (bold added for emphasis)
The College Board and Code.org will encourage schools to offer the new PSAT 8/9 assessment as a way of identifying more students, particularly those from traditionally under-represented groups, for enrollment in these new courses.
So did you think this was going to mean some CS classes for you, poor little Appalachian white boy? Well TOUGH LUCK! That oppressed girl from Grosse Pointe beats you out again.
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So did you think this was going to mean some CS classes for you, poor little Appalachian white boy?
Slashdot readership - the new advocacy front for IT jobs for poor Appalachian kids.
k.
Re:I knew there was some liberal catch here (Score:5, Informative)
As every good liberal knows, true diversity comes from the color of your skin and the type of genitals you have (and even if you accept those genitals as your own). It has nothing to do with a diverse upbringing, people having multiple ideas/methods of solving problems, or just having different interests. I'm happy to be a formerly poor Appalachian white boy who had to teach the computer science teacher how to program, was able to learn a lot in the process of teaching myself, and ended up with a software development job that I thoroughly enjoy. And my story is far from unique. .....and as I hit preview to submit this post, the captcha word was "travesty"
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You forgot about "skill levels". A truly diverse workplace will have a full range a skill levels as well from the highly effective to the completely imcompetent.
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Re: Or how about this (Score:1)
Hint: you can't be a senior manager of a financial company in US without going through many legally mandated certification. These certification rolling programs do enrol a limited amount of students each year which effectively limits the size of a job market. Moreover, you can't buy or sell financial securities by yourself, unless you went through such programm. This prevents common folk from making money in financial field in US without paying the middleman.
I like this very "open market."
Another group screwing up k-12 education (Score:1)
American k-12 schools have enough trouble teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic. That was before 'No Child Left Behind'. Most kids are not interested in computer programming. Now, code.org, wants school districts to spend more money of their limited budget on computer programming classes. There will be unpopular, thus small, and thus expensive per student, programming classes.
Am I missing something with Code.org? (Score:5, Informative)
I am a middle school teacher and I have been using hour of code to introduce my students to "the coding mindset." However, other than the puzzle tutorial I don't see much that is1. interesting to students and 2. contains a grading metric.
Is there a teacher handbook? I do have access to the teacher site; but I really don't see much. I would like to be able to assign, and track progress in, other modules and activities; but it has the 20 activities that I can track and view in the teacher screen, then it has a more advanced set of puzzles (that I cannot track progress). Then is an "Elsa" on ice module, that, again, I cannot track progress in at the same time I am tracking the students who have not finished the basic module.
At that point it kicks the students off to Kahn academy with no teacher tracking at all.
Yes, the tracking is essential as most students will not do the activities if they do not see it, directly, translating into a grade. I have students who have had 18 weeks and have not started the first 20 activity module. They plan to find out how many points they need for a C (or D) after the final and then do only that many activities in the Hour of Code lessons.
I would like to do more with Hour of Code and Code.org; but on the teacher side of the program there isn't much there.
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In the "Teacher Home Page" you can create new sections that are assigned to specific courses. You can see the courses offered at the bottom of the Teacher Dashboard here: http://code.org/teacher-dashbo... [code.org] .
Courses 1-4 are far more extensive than the hour of code or Introduction to Computer science courses. You could make separate sections for each course so that students can progress up the ladder on their own or change the course for the entire section at once by editing the section. You can track progress