Summary of Findings

To summarize the findings, the teachers identified five main challenges: isolation, lack of instructional materials, misconceptions about computer science, low prioritization of computer science as a course, and limited availability of CS teachers. These findings were very consistent with the administrators who identified three of these same challenges (misconceptions, scarcity of CS teachers, and low prioritization of CS courses) and added one of their own: the competition CS courses face from other courses in their schools. In all tables, findings are reported with the most frequently reported finding listed first.

Major Challenges	Teachers	Administrators
Isolation	✓
Lack of Instructional Materials	✓
Misconceptions About CS	✓	✓
Low prioritization of CS as a course	✓	✓
Limited availability of CS teachers	✓	✓
CS must compete with other courses		✓

Regarding supports, on the other hand, teachers identified six supports most important to them: professional networks, online resources, school-provided materials, teacher professional development, support from universities, and student interest. This time, administrators identified four supports with only one overlapping with the teachers: teacher professional development. Their other three were: administrative understanding and valuing of CS, strong CS teachers in their schools, and the CS industry.

Supports	Teachers	Administrators
Professional networks	✓
Online resources	✓
School-provided materials	✓
Teacher professional development	✓	✓
Support from universities	✓
Student interest	✓
Administrator understanding and valuing of CS		✓
Strong CS teachers in their schools		✓
CS industry		✓

CS teacher essential skills was another area of agreement for teachers and administrators. Both groups made it clear that content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge are essential. The teachers added one more essential skill: the ability to keep up with the changing field of computer science.

Essential Skills	Teachers	Administrators
Content knowledge	✓	✓
Pedagogical knowledge	✓	✓
Keep up with changing field	✓

And finally, with regard to what needs to happen now, teachers felt that a necessary next step is to make computer science courses required in high schools, followed by efforts to develop understandings of computer as a serious discipline. These priorities are reflected in their visions for the future as they described their hopes for a culture change that embraces and values computer science. With a supportive culture in place, teachers imagined the availability of CS courses for younger students, in middle school and below. They also agreed with the administrators about their desire to have a future with high schools that have multiple computer science offerings as well as one with adequate numbers of computer scientists to fill the demand from industry.

The only point of departure between administrators and teachers came from administrators’ desires to integrate computer science into other courses, rather than have it stand alone as a course. Teachers’ comments, on the other hand, reflected a sentiment that integrating CS into other subjects could reduce its value as a discipline. This appears to be one of many issues ready for further careful examination.

What Needs To Happen Now	Teachers	Administrators
Make required course	✓	✓
Culture Change to Value CS	✓	✓
Early access to CS	✓	✓
Multiple CS offerings	✓	✓
Adequate outcomes to meet industry demand	✓	✓
Integrate CS into other courses		✓