Computer Science Standards

The Iowa State Board of Education adopted voluntary statewide Computer Science standards in June 2018.  The standards include five concept areas and seven practices. The standards progression chart and abridged standards document are both good resources for educators.

The Board of Educational Examiners offers a Computer Science endorsement. While not required, this endorsement ensures teachers are trained and prepared to engage students in high quality Computer Science instruction. You can learn more about the endorsement requirements here.

 Computer Science Endorsement Programs

The Computer Science Education curriculum at UNI currently consists of five courses, including fundamentals of programming, teaching and learning of programming, foundational concepts of computer science, data structures & algorithms, and computer science methods, which have been designed to align with the ISTE standards for Computer Science Educators.  They have been approved by the Iowa BoEE and completion of all five courses will make existing Iowa license holders eligible for the newly approved (March 2018) computer science teaching endorsement in the state of Iowa.
Northwestern College offers an online Computer Science Endorsement. The 15-credit program equips educators to teach computer science and programming courses to students in grades K-8 and/or 5-12. The program focuses on systems and networks, data representation, abstraction and designing, as well as developing, testing and refining algorithms that prepare teachers to improve student outcomes and leads to and Iowa Endorsement #277 (K-8) and/or #278 (5-12). This program also qualifies for Iowa Department of Education (DoE) granted funds for professional development in computer science for select school districts, which may allow teachers to cover the cost with provided funds.

Link to Program Flyer
Earn graduate credit as you take Grand View’s online Computer Science Methods course. This online, stand-alone class will help you meet state requirements for your Computer Science Endorsement. The course addresses effective strategies for teaching computer science to diverse learners. Participants will focus on curriculum development related to computing constructs, digital citizenship and problem solving strategies in computer science. Participants will develop learning opportunities for K-12 students to experience computer science in project-based environments.