Matching Experienced and Novice Teachers for Ongoing Rigorous Support in Computer Science (MENTORS in CS)

The Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA), in collaboration with the CSTA Chapter in Wisconsin and WestEd, will develop Matching Experienced and Novice Teachers for Ongoing Rigorous Support in Computer Science (MENTORS in CS), a Research Practitioner Partnership to develop and iteratively improve a high school computer science (CS) teacher mentorship program to provide ongoing, rigorous, and job-embedded support to teachers who are new to CS. While novice teachers often require more intensive support to be effective, there are relatively few opportunities for ongoing professional development and support in CS.

In this project, experienced CS teachers will guide novice CS teachers in setting, monitoring progress toward, and meeting individualized growth goals to strengthen their teaching practices and their ability to effectively serve students traditionally underrepresented in CS, particularly African American and Hispanic students and students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. This project will reach 60 CS teachers in two years, impacting approximately 7,200 high school students.

MENTORS in CS Key project activities involve developing the mentorship structures, mentor training, and teacher matching process; holding frequent mentorship meetings and mentor community of practice meetings; and using research and evaluation data to iteratively improve the program and outcomes. The MENTORS IN CS partners expect the following project outcomes: (1) Increased confidence in teaching CS, as measured by surveys and interviews; (2) Increased pedagogical content knowledge, as measured through surveys, interviews, and mentor evaluations; (3) Increased use of equitable and inclusive teaching practices, as measured by surveys, interviews, and mentor evaluations; and (4) Growth towards mastery of indicators within the CSTA Standards for CS Teachers as measured by pre-, mid-, and post-self-reflections.

The partners aim to develop and refine mentorship structures and protocols first at one chapter (CSTA Wisconsin Dairyland), with an explicit strategy to scale the mentorship program across CSTA’s growing chapter network in subsequent years.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.