The WeTeach_CS program at the University of Texas aims to enhance computer science education in Texas by providing training and resources for educators. Key accomplishments include training over 1,300 teachers, developing an online certification course for educators, and organizing professional development events that served hundreds of participants. The program also emphasizes building collaborations among education institutions and industry partners to improve computer science teaching and learning in the state.

1. 1
WeTeach_CS Computer Science
Collaboratives Pre-Applicant Meeting
Carol Fletcher, Ph.D., Deputy Director
Amy Werst, Manager, Programmatic Operations
Center for STEM Education ● The University of Texas at Austin
Wednesday, November 30, 2016 ● 1:00-3:00 p.m.

2. 2
WeTeach_CS Team
Carol Fletcher, Ph.D.
Deputy Director, Center for STEM Education
Amy Werst
Manager, Programmatic Operations
Jeff Early
Manager, Business Operations & HR
Karl Hereim
Data Systems Administrator
Stephen Gray
Communications & IT Administrator
Wesley Monroe
CS Technical Project Manager
John Owen
CS PD Specialist
Garner Vincent
Data Systems Administrator
Carol Ramsey
Graduate Research Assistant, CS
Jayce Warner
Graduate Research Assistant, Evaluation

3. 3
Only 2% of
TX graduates
take a CS
course
Computer Science Facts
Only 14 teachers
completed a pre-service
teacher certification
program in CS in
2014-15.
Only 27% of
TX high
schools
even offer a
CS course

4. 4
2015-2016

5. 5
WeTeach_CS Accomplishments
is a program of
The University of Texas at Austin’s
Center for STEM Education, a research,
teaching, and service unit of the College
of Education.
The following accomplishments are from
September 1, 2015, through August 31, 2016,
if not otherwise specified.

6. 6
Accomplishment #1
in computer science, computational thinking,
coding, and programming.
Provided 24,010 contact hours of
training to 1,352 Texas educators
representing 697
schools
339 public, private, and
charter school districts
&

7. 7
Accomplishment #2
to complete CS
certification in
Texas
Supported 104
in-service
teachers
as compared to 14 pre-service teachers
who obtained a CS certification during
the same time frame in 2014-15.

8. 8
Accomplishment #3
Developed and deployed
a free, six-week, online
course to support Texas
educators seeking
Grades 8-12 Computer
Science certification.
Course was developed with funding from:
Piloted course in summer
of 2016 with the goal of
enrolling 200 teachers.
Full enrollment was 744,
with 255 educators
completing all course
assignments with at least
80% mastery.

9. 9
Accomplishment #4
Secured
funding fromsupporting stipend
for Texas educators who
become certified to teach CS.
Launched Certification
Incentive Program (CIP)

10. 10
Accomplishment #5
with representatives fromOrganized first
CS Principles
Mini-Conference
-------------------------------------------------------------------
February 24-25, 2016
http://www.thetrc.org/cs-principles-mini-conference
which provided
training to
45 Texas educators.

11. 11
Accomplishment #6
and connecting Texas
educators with state and
national leaders /
resources to teach CS and
computational thinking.
http://www.thetrc.org/weteach_cs-summit-2016
Organized inaugural
WeTeach_CS Summit
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
June 7-9, 2016
providing professional
development to over 200
educators, K-12, focused
on building the CS
Education Community,

12. 12
Accomplishment #7
NSF’s Expanding
Computing Education
Pathways (ECEP) Alliance
Organized statewide
meet-up for CS
Education advocates
http://www.thetrc.org/statewide-cs-effort
in conjunction with
Texas Alliance for Computer
Science Education (TACSE),
which is now CS4TX
Partnered with

13. 13
Accomplishment #8
Trained 78 Texas
educators in
through free online
project called
in partnership
with

14. 14
Accomplishment #9
Trained 42 Texas educators in
Video Game Programming
with Algebra

15. 15
Accomplishment #10
in partnership with
Awarded first two
CS Change Maker
awards to Texas high
school CS teachers
Awarded first two
CS Mini-grants to
elementary and middle
schools teachers

16. 16
Accomplishment #11
Launched
in partnership with
http://cs4tx.org

17. 17
Accomplishment #12
Coordinated the
first CS professional
development strand for
the CAMT conference
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Summer 2016
reaching approximately
200 Texas math educators

18. 18
WeTeach_CS Program Overview

19. 19
 Goals
 Target teacher audience
 Number of teachers served
 Teacher participation in a minimum of 60 contact
hours
 Primary professional development delivered to
teachers
Program Overview (1)

20. 20
 Role of the Computer Science professor
 District and campus administrator
involvement and communication
 Teacher recruitment
 Needs assessments
 Evaluation of effectiveness
 Involvement of business, industry, and/or non-profits
Program Overview (2)

21. 21
 Each Collaborative must serve a minimum of 10 teachers.
Teachers must have a professional development plan to earn at
least 60 hours of Computer Science Training.
 Collaboratives must have a plan to offer at least 60 hours of CS
PD. This can be a combination of online and F2F and may
include WTCS statewide training and events such as the CS
Summit, AP CS Principles Mini-conference, or WTCS cert prep
online or F2F workshops.
Requirements (1)

22. 22
 Collaboratives will pay for their teachers registration,
transportation, and lodging to trainings and events.
 A minimum of 5 teachers must actively pursue a CS 8-12
certification
 A minimum of 5 teachers must attend the WeTeach_CS Summit
 All teachers served must be documented in the TRC DataCenter
Requirements (2)

23. 23
 A Project Director (or designated representative) from each
Collaborative must attend one Project Director webinar
(February 2017) and one F2F Computer Science Project
Director's Meeting (May 2017)
 A Computer Science professor must be part of the instructional
team. They do not have to be exclusively responsible for
providing professional development but must collaborate with
instructional specialists or attend PD provided as a disciplinary
specialist.
Requirements (3)

24. 24
Must include:
1. a computer science faculty member of an institution of
higher education; and
2. a high-need local educational agency
Eligible Partnerships (1)

25. 25
May also include:
• another computer science, engineering, mathematics, science, or
teacher training department of an institution of higher education;
• additional local educational agencies, public charter schools, public
or private elementary schools or secondary schools, or a
consortium of such schools;
• a business; or
• a nonprofit or for-profit organization of demonstrated
effectiveness in improving the quality of mathematics and science
teachers.
Eligible Partnerships (2)

26. 26
• Foundations of CS for Teachers ➢ Jan 16-Mar 10 (36 contact hours)
• Keep Calm & Java On – application closes Dec 9th! ➢ Feb 27-Apr 28
(44 total contact hours for Java Fundamentals (32) and Java
Programming (12))
• Keep Calm & Java On ➢ Summer 2017 (44 total)
More TBA! Subscribe to the WeTeach_CS Blog for updates!!
http://www.weteachcs.org/blog/
WeTeach_CS Event Calendar Online

27. 27
• Computer Science Principles Mini-Conference ➢ Feb 20-21 ■ Austin
(12 contact hours)
• WeTeach_CS Certification Prep (12 contact hours)
– Houston ISD ➢ Jan 23-24 ■ Houston
– Rice University ➢ Mar 13-14 ■ Houston
– ESC 14 ➢ (TBA) ■ Abilene
• WeTeach_CS Summit ➢ Jun 5-7 ■ Austin (18 contact hours)
• WeTeach_CS Deep Dives ➢ Jun 8-9 ■ Austin (8-10 contact hours)
• Logo Summer Institute ➢ Jul 24-27 ■ Pflugerville (24 contact hours)
WeTeach_CS Event Calendar Face-To-Face

28. 28
Many more F2F CS events TBA!
Subscribe to the WeTeach_CS Blog for updates!!
http://www.weteachcs.org/blog/
Face-to-face and online trainings offered and/or
sponsored by WeTeach_CS
http://www.weteachcs.org/events-2016-17/
WeTeach_CS Event Calendar Face-To-Face

29. 29
 Code.org - https://code.org/educate
 Tynker - https://www.tynker.com/parents/
 Harvey Mudd College MOOCs - https://www.edx.org/school/harveymuddx
 MIT App Inventor - http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/
 Beauty and Joy of Computing - http://bjc.berkeley.edu
 UTeach CS Principles - https://cs.uteach.utexas.edu
 Code HS - https://codehs.com
Online Computer Science Workshops/Resources

30. 30
 Minimum award = $50,000
 Maximum award = $100,000
 Total budget should reflect an estimated $5,000 per teacher served
– This is meant to be a guide for calculating a total project
budget, not an actual figure for per-teacher expenditure
– Examples:
• Project A serves 10 teachers = $50,000
• Project B serves 20 teachers = $100,000
Budget Guidelines (1)

31. 31
 Allowable use of funds include, but are not limited to:
– Payroll commensurate with time & effort expended on the
grant
– Trainings and meetings
– Substitute pay
– Consultants
– Travel (employee and teacher)
– Stipends
Budget Guidelines (2)

32. 32
 All expenditures must be pertinent to and appropriate
for the objectives and activities stated. Refer to the Texas
Education Agency’s Grants Management Resources at
http://tea.texas.gov/grants/gmresources/ for a complete list of
Cost Principles and Allowable Costs.
 Unallowable costs include, but are not limited to, costs that
are not reasonable and necessary to meet the objectives of
the grant, including direct-to-student services.
Budget Guidelines (3)

33. 33
 Funding is contingent upon meeting all state requirements, including
demonstrating satisfactory progress towards meeting project goals,
availability of federal funding, and adherence to all requirements.
 The Office of WeTeach_CS in the Center for STEM Education reserves
the right to reject any and all applications and/or to negotiate portions
thereof. The number of grants awarded, as well as grant amounts, are
contingent on an adequate level of Title II Mathematics and Science
Partnerships funding, and on the final approval of funding from the
Texas Education Agency.
Funding

34. 34
The following items must be uploaded to the
DataCenter no later than Report #1:
1. Letter of commitment from CS Professor
2. Instructional Timeline
3. Computer Science teacher participants
4. Research consent form
Report #1 – Due: Friday, April 14, 2017

35. 35
The following items must be documented in the
DataCenter by Report #2:
1. Teachers have earned a minimum of 20 hours
2. Professional Development Plan for each teacher
3. All Events scheduled prior to June 15, 2017 are
entered and completed in the DataCenter
Report #2 – Due: Friday, June 30, 2017

36. 36
 Invoice #1 Due: April 1, 2017
 Subsequent Invoices: Monthly, due the 1st of
each month
Due to the short period of this grant, special attention will be
given to the monthly progress towards goals and realistic
ability for individual projects to expend grant monies.
Invoicing

37. 37
• Release RFA: Wednesday, December 7th
• RFA Due Date: Monday, January 9th
• Grant Review: Tuesday, January 10th-Friday,
January 13th
• Final Decisions: Wednesday, January 18th
• Grant Start Date: February 1, 2017
Critical Dates (1)

38. 38
• Project Director Webinar: Tuesday, March 28, 2017
• Invoicing Due #1 Due: April 1, 2017
• Subsequent Invoices: Monthly, due the 1st of each month
• Report #1 Due: Friday, April 14, 2017
• Project Director Meeting
(F2F - Austin): Tuesday, May 9, 2017
• WeTeach_CS Summit: Monday - Wednesday, June 5-7, 2017
• Report #2 Due: Friday, June 30, 2017
• At least 75% of the total
project budget must be
invoiced by this date: August 1, 2017
• Grant End Date: August 15, 2017
• Final Report and Invoice Due: September 1, 2017
Critical Dates (2)

39. 39
NCLB, Title II, Part B
Mathematics and Science Partnerships
http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/pg26.html
Source of Funds

40. 40
QUESTIONS
???

41. 41
http://www.weteachcs.org
https://www.facebook.com/weteachcs/
https://twitter.com/weteachcs
Contact Information

42. 42
Amy Werst
Manager of Programmatic Operations
Center for STEM Education
The University of Texas at Austin
Email: Amy.Werst@utexas.edu
Phone: 512-471-7450
Contact Information