Expanding Computing Education Pathways (ECEP) recently announced awards for the 5th round of mini-grants. States that are active members of the ECEP alliance are eligible to apply for awards up to $25,000. This round included applications from seven states; four states received funding reflecting a total of $87,458. The four successful applications came from Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and the territory of Puerto Rico.

A new report describing the progress of U.S. states in achieving 10 policy priorities for improving and expanding K–12 computer science (CS) education was released today at a national workshop led by Google, EDC, and the Massachusetts Computing Attainment Network (MassCAN) on Google’s Cambridge campus. The report highlights key strategies and issues state leaders must address regarding CS education.

Expanding Computer Education Pathways (ECEP) has collaborated with Code.org on a document that helps state and district leaders consider how Career and Technical Education (CTE) can support computer science (CS) education. “Rethinking Perkins to Expand Access to K-12 Computer Science” was co-written by the two organizations and released in fall 2016.

More American students are taking rigorous computer science courses in high school, at least as measured by the number of students who took the Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science A (CSA) exam, which assesses computer science knowledge and object-oriented programming ability in Java. The number of high school students taking the AP CSA exam has more than doubled in the last five years from less than 25,000 in 2012 to more than 54,000 in 2016. However, access to AP CSA is still quite limited, as only 3,206 institutions passed the College Board audit to offer AP CSA in 2016 compared …

In support of Computer Science Education Week 2016 (December 5-11), ECEP states organized various CS Ed Week activities to encourage participation in computing: Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Virginia.

Texas and New Hampshire are making strides toward broadening participation in K-16 computing in their states and recently hosted gatherings focused on closing the computer science opportunity gap. Both states brought together diverse groups of stakeholders to forward state-level educational...

Several ECEP Alliance members will be presenting at the 2017 SIGCSE (Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education) annual global symposium, which addresses challenges common among educators and features demos, lightning talks, papers, panels, posters, special sessions, and workshops. Informal opportunities for networking and ‘birds of a feather’ sessions allow for further discussions of computer science education. The event provides a forum for sharing new ideas for syllabi, laboratories, and other elements of teaching and pedagogy, at all levels of instruction.

Expanding Computing Education Pathways (ECEP) held a national summit in Washington, D.C. Oct. 28-29, which was attended by computer science education-focused leaders from 16 states and Puerto Rico. Attendees included K-16 educators, researchers, and leaders from non-profit organizations, industry, and government.

In support of the President’s recent Computer Science For All announcement, the Expanding Computing Education Pathways (ECEP) Alliance pledged to grow the alliance by five states. The ECEP Alliance welcomes Arkansas, Nevada, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and Virginia to our third cohort of states working to broaden participation in K-16 computing.

On September 22, 2016 ECEP Alliance leaders in Puerto Rico, in collaboration with and sponsored by the Puerto Rico Information Technology Cluster, held the first Computer Science (CS) for All Puerto Rico Symposium. Building on the CS for All vision of creating opportunity and access to computing education for all students, the event organizers invited guests from K-12, higher education, government, industry and the community.