Compilation of Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia › Department 505 - PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS COMMISSION › Chapter 505-3 - EDUCATOR PREPARATION RULES › Rule 505-3-.86 - Computer Science Endorsement Program

Current through Rules and Regulations filed through
			 June 27, 2024
(1)
Purpose.
This rule states field-specific content standards and
			 requirements for approving endorsement programs that prepare individuals to
			 teach computer science in grades P-12 and supplements requirements in Rule
			 505-3-.01, REQUIREMENTS AND STANDARDS
			 FOR APPROVING EDUCATOR PREPARATION PROVIDERS AND EDUCATOR PREPARATION
			 PROGRAMS.
(2)
In-Field
			 Statement
. Educators holding a level four (4) or higher renewable
			 professional certificate in any P-12 or secondary (6-12) teaching field and who
			 complete the Computer Science Endorsement are qualified to teach computer
			 science to students in grades P-12.
(3)
Requirements.
(a) GaPSC approved educator preparation
			 providers may seek state approval to offer this field as either a stand-alone
			 endorsement program or as an endorsement program embedded in a GaPSC-approved
			 initial preparation program or an advanced (degree-only) preparation program.
			 In addition to meeting all applicable approval requirements and standards,
			 embedded endorsement programs must meet requirements specified in paragraph (e)
			 4. (ix) of GaPSC Educator Preparation Rule
			 505-3-.01, REQUIREMENTS AND STANDARDS
			 FOR APPROVING EDUCATOR PREPARATION PROVIDERS AND EDUCATOR PREPARATION PROGRAMS.
			 Approval to offer the Computer Science Endorsement qualifies the EPP to
			 recommend for the Computer Science Micro-Endorsement, candidates who are
			 actively enrolled in this program and who demonstrate mastery of standards 1
			 and 6. The Computer Science Micro-Endorsement qualifies individuals to teach
			 introductory computer science courses in grades P-12 (see GaPSC Certification
			 Rule 505-2-.193,
			 COMPUTER SCIENCE MICRO-ENDORSEMENT).
(b) To receive approval, a GaPSC-approved
			 educator preparation provider shall offer a preparation program as described in
			 program planning forms, catalogs, and syllabi, based on the following standards
			 adapted from the International Society for Technology Education (ISTE) (2017),
			 and the Computer Science Teachers Association Standards (2017).
1. The program shall prepare candidates who
			 demonstrate computational thinking skills to formalize a problem and express
			 its solution in a way that computers (human and machine) can effectively carry
			 out, as indicated by the following:
(i) The
			 program shall prepare candidates who demonstrate knowledge of and ability for
			 applying computational thinking skills including decomposition, abstraction,
			 and pattern recognition in problem solving;
(ii) The program shall prepare candidates who
			 demonstrate skills in devising algorithms for solving computational problems
			 and checking for the correctness of the algorithms;
(iii) The program shall prepare candidates
			 who demonstrate understanding of limitations of computing; and
(iv) The program shall prepare candidates who
			 perform activities demonstrating applications of computational thinking
			 skills.
2. The program
			 shall prepare candidates who demonstrate proficiency in at least one
			 third-generation programming language, such as Java, Python, C or C++, C#/.NET,
			 R, and Rust, as indicated by the following:
(i) The program shall prepare candidates who
			 demonstrate knowledge of and skill regarding the syntax and semantics of a
			 third-generation programming language, its control structures, and its data
			 types;
(ii) The program shall
			 prepare candidates who demonstrate knowledge of and skill regarding common
			 abstraction mechanisms including methods (functions/procedures), data
			 structures, and application programming interfaces (APIs);
(iii) The program shall prepare candidates
			 who demonstrate knowledge of and skill in implementing algorithms into robust
			 full stack programs (interpreted and compiled) and testing and debugging these
			 programs for correctness;
(iv) The
			 program shall prepare candidates who perform laboratory-based activities that
			 demonstrate programming concepts proficiency in a third-generation programming
			 language; and
(v) The program shall
			 prepare candidates who can document a program so that others can understand its
			 design and implementation.
3. The program shall prepare candidates who
			 demonstrate proficiency in basic computer system components and organization as
			 indicated by the following:
(i) The program
			 shall prepare candidates who demonstrate knowledge of how data are represented
			 on a computer including bits, bytes, and words;
(ii) The program shall prepare candidates who
			 demonstrate knowledge of the mathematics of binary, octal and hexadecimal, as
			 well as conversions among them;
(iii) The program shall prepare candidates
			 who demonstrate knowledge of main components of a computer system including
			 CPU, OS, Memory, motherboard layout (north & south bridges), I/O devices,
			 and peripherals;
(iv) The program
			 shall prepare candidates who demonstrate knowledge of various types of storage
			 options in a computing environment including hard drive, cloud storage, flash
			 drives, DVDs; and
(v) The program
			 shall prepare candidates who demonstrate knowledge and understanding of how
			 components of a computer system work together to produce programs and
			 applications to solve computational problems.
4. The program shall prepare candidates who
			 demonstrate proficiency in fundamental principles of computer networks and the
			 Internet as indicated by the following:
(i)
			 The program shall prepare candidates who demonstrate knowledge of network
			 components including hardware and software;
(ii) The program shall prepare candidates who
			 can explain how network and cloud topologies and protocols enable users,
			 devices, and systems to communicate and collaborate with each other;
(iii) The program shall prepare candidates
			 who can examine the factors such as bandwidth, latency, security, and server
			 capability that impact network functionality;
(iv) The program shall prepare candidates who
			 can explain the abstractions in the Internet and how the Internet functions
			 (OSI model) including the assignment of IP addresses, routing, the domain name
			 system (DNS), and the use of protocols; and
(v) The program shall prepare candidates who
			 can explain the characteristics of the Internet and the systems built on it
			 including redundancy, fault tolerance, hierarchy in IP addressing scheme,
			 hierarchy in the DNS and open standards, and the influence of these
			 characteristics on the systems.
5. The program shall prepare candidates who
			 demonstrate proficiency in effectively and responsibly using computer
			 applications to create digital artifacts, analyze data, model and simulate
			 phenomena suggested by research and/or data as indicated by the following:
(i) The program shall prepare candidates who
			 can effectively use computer applications to create digital artifacts such as
			 audio, video, animation, presentation, and websites;
(ii) The program shall prepare candidates who
			 can extract information from data to discover, explain, and visualize
			 connections or trends;
(iii) The
			 program shall prepare candidates who can create models and simulations to help
			 formulate, test, and refine hypotheses;
(iv) The program shall prepare candidates who
			 can form a model from a hypothesis generated from research and run a simulation
			 to collect and analyze data to test that hypothesis;
(v) The program shall prepare candidates to
			 use industry best practices in application development; and
(vi) The program shall prepare candidates who
			 can instruct students in proper keying techniques, including typing by
			 touch.
6. The program
			 shall prepare candidates who demonstrate proficiency and understanding of
			 security, privacy, and safety concerns in computer systems, networks, and
			 applications as indicated by the following:
(i) The program shall prepare candidates who
			 can describe main tenets of information security including confidentiality,
			 integrity, availability, authentication, non-repudiation, and Zero Trust
			 systems;
(ii) The program shall
			 prepare candidates who can describe the fundamentals of encryption and
			 decryption to protect data;
(iii)
			 The program shall prepare candidates who can explain fundamental security
			 design principles, to include the differences between network and data
			 security;
(iv) The program shall
			 prepare candidates who can describe types of threats and vulnerabilities to
			 computer systems and the appropriate incident response and handling as well as
			 imaging and backup procedures;
(v)
			 The program shall prepare candidates who can describe common network
			 vulnerabilities and their associated responses;
(vi) The program shall prepare candidates who
			 can identify safe, secure, and ethical digital behavior; and use effective
			 strategies to evaluate the quality and credibility of websites; and
(vii) The program shall prepare candidates to
			 educate students on their role in the prevention of cyberbullying and to take
			 an active role in building positive online communities.
7. The program shall prepare candidates who
			 plan, organize, deliver, and evaluate instruction for teaching full stack
			 computer programming as indicated by the following:
(i) The program shall prepare candidates to
			 use industry standard Integrated Development Environments (IDE) for the
			 development of computer programs;
(ii) The program shall prepare candidates who
			 can demonstrate fundamental programming design paradigms, to include Waterfall,
			 Agile, and DevOps;
(iii) The
			 program shall prepare candidates who can demonstrate full stack programming in
			 both interpreted and compiled languages;
(iv) The program shall prepare candidates who
			 can professionally interface with end users to develop programming
			 requirements;
(v) The program shall
			 prepare candidates who can instruct students to develop their own unique
			 full-stack programs (both interpreted and compiled languages) and debug them
			 using professional industry-standard IDEs;
(vi) The program shall prepare candidates who
			 know how to plan and implement instruction using a wide range of instructional
			 strategies for individuals and groups and for a diverse student
			 population;
(vii) The program shall
			 prepare candidates who create and implement multiple forms of assessment
			 (including performance- and project-based) and use resulting data to gauge
			 student progress and adjust instruction accordingly; and
(viii) The program shall prepare candidates
			 to positively impact the achievement and attainment of underrepresented
			 populations by incorporating instructional strategies to increase student
			 self-efficacy and interest to drive goals towards continued advanced studies in
			 computer science.
8. The
			 program shall prepare candidates who work with business and industry leaders in
			 establishing school/business partnerships and advisory committees and operate
			 student organizations as appropriate.
9. The program shall prepare candidates who
			 demonstrate knowledge of the philosophy and purposes of Career Technical
			 Education (CTE), including being members of professional teacher organizations
			 that are appropriate for computer science content.