CSTA Washington News

March 2026

Hello CSTA Washington members and friends!

Happy March! The fruit trees are beginning to flower and the days are getting longer. CSTAWA invites you out of the winter hibernation with us as we have multiple virtual and in person opportunities coming up to build community and enrich our CS education practices. So shake off that winter frost and join us as we spring forward into the season of connection and collaboration. And be sure to hit “Follow” on our newly activated FB and LinkedIn!

Upcoming CSTA WA Events

Virtual Lunch and Learn, AI and Equity PD

Bring your lunch and join CSTA Washington for a virtual Lunch and Learn on March 21, 12:00-2:00 PST.

We will learn from Denise Thompson, a CSTA AI Fellow, and Anthony Barba, a CSTA Impact Fellow! Denise will share lesson plans on AI and copyright, while Anthony will share resources and strategies for Engaging the Disengaged - making computer science fun and equitable. Free resources and tools will be shared! CSTA Washington Treasurer Lawrence Tanimoto will also share how to use the CS Education Data Dashboards, a dashboard intended to understand CS education across Washington state.

This virtual event is open to anyone interested in expanding their professional network and evolving their craft.

3 Washington clock hours will be awarded free to interested Washington State educators who attend the event and complete the "homework" associated with the event.

To receive a Zoom link for this event, register here: Lunch and Learn: Ft. AI and Copyright and Engaging the Disengaged Lectures

Open Board Meeting – March 31, 2026

Are you interested in learning more about the new CSTA Washington and the work that we do? Please join us for our next quarterly open meeting on March 31 from 6:30 to 7:30 PM. We plan to discuss board member roles and discuss how non-board members can become more involved!

Our board meetings are open to all and take place over Zoom. To receive a Zoom link prior to the meeting click here!

STEP CS Welcome Event - tickets available & looking for table activity hosts!

Registration for the STEP CS Welcome Event on Monday, April 27th 6:30-8:30 PM at University of Washington is open!

To find out more and to register (by April 20th) see the STEP CS Welcome Event on the CSTA Washington events page.

Students in the STEP CS program are staying for a 5th (spring) quarter in their Masters in Education program to take classes in CS pedagogy and work on a CS teaching certification.

CSTAWA annually hosts an evening of activities, networking, and food to warmly welcome these new teachers to a community that is passionate about supporting equitable and inclusive computing education.

We are currently looking for 2-3 volunteers "activity table hosts" - people or organizations that have an activity that can be shared with rotating groups of people for 10 minutes at a time. Please email bricker@cs.washington.edu if you have an idea and are/or interested in hosting!

Rubber Duck Spotlight

NCCE Recap

Anthony Barba, Lauren Bricker, Denise Thompson (not shown) and Lawrence Tanimoto staffed CSTA Washington’s booth at NCCE 2026.

To watch a recap of the presentation on "How to Grow CS Education at your District/School" given by Lawrence Tanimoto click here

Representing in

St. Louis

CSTA Washington members attended the SIGCSE TS 2026 conference!

Keynotes included Amy Ko’s talk on Love and Learning, a panel on the future of CS education, and a thought‑provoking closing keynote from Titus Winters.

While there wasn’t an official meetup this year, members still enjoyed valuable conversations and shared CSTA Washington’s new giveaway ducks throughout the event.

To read the whole summary click here!

Free Classroom

Resources Share

Hour of AI: Two Truths and an AI

If you are still interested in hosting an “Hour of AI”, try this fun Common Sense Media game that helps students develop skills to better identify AI-generated images.

Activity👉 https://www.commonsense.org/two-truths-and-ai

Canva flyer 👉 here

Day of AI Trivia Game

Looking for a quick way to spark AI conversations in your classroom? AI Trivia Time releases a new themed game every week and is ready to play with K–6 or 7–12 students. You need to first create an account with Day of AI, then you are able to access the game. Click the link and start the discussion!

Link to game 👉 Day of AI USA

Canva Link 👉 here

Sharing Frameworks for CS Courses

Have you spent days working on a CTE framework for a CS course that you now want

to share with other educators? Are you looking for a CTE framework that someone

else has already written for a CS course to save you days of work?

If you have a CS framework to share or are looking for one, please let us know via the

CSTA Washington virtual community thread (CSTA Washington membership required) or by e-mail at washington@csteachers.org.

Over the coming months, CSTA Washington will post these frameworks to our website

https://cstawa.org

For a list of CS courses, please see OSPI’s Guidance on Computer Science State

Course Codes.

Elementary School Educators: OSPI CS Needs Your Input!

OSPI is seeking input from elementary school educators through a 15-minute survey to understand CS learning among elementary school students in Washington.

Respondents will receive a $30 Amazon gift card.

The survey links are below:

Teachers👉http://tinyurl.com/3wrf8rac

Principals👉 http://bit.ly/44w7G54

Superintendents👉http://bit.ly/3SzGlHP

Top Schools and Districts for CSEd 2023-24

The dashboards in Washington CS Education Enrollments 2019-24 provide data on what percentage of students are enrolled in CS in a particular school, district, or ESD. These dashboards which are based on the 2023-24 K–12 Computer Science Education Data Summary Report published by OSPI in June 2025 show that the schools with the highest CS education participation rates in the 2023-24 school year were:

District: Wahluke School District (37.1%)
High School: Nikola Tesla STEM High School (61.9%)
Middle School: Wahluke Junior High (87.8%)
Small School: Rooted School Washington (100%), Washington Youth ChalleNGe Academy (100%)

See Top Schools and Districts for CSEd 2023-24 - CSTA Washington for lists of more top (and bottom) CSEd district and schools.

CSTA WA Social Media

CSTA Washington has created a Facebook and LinkedIn page for members to keep up with upcoming events and news! Please follow our pages to stay up to date!

Facebook 👉 Computer Science Teachers Association, Washington

LinkedIn 👉 Computer Science Teachers Association, WA State

Thank you for being part of our community and for inspiring the next generation of technology creators. We’re grateful to be rebuilding this community together and appreciate your ongoing commitment to computer science education across Washington. Your passion and dedication are what make CSTA Washington strong!

With gratitude,

The CSTA WA Team

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