Join Us At WA-ACTE - CSTA Washington News August 2026

August 2026

New PK-12 Computer Science Standards

At the 2026 CSTA Annual Conference in New Orleans, the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) officially released the 2026 CSTA PK–12 Computer Science Standards. These are the first major revision of the standards since 2017, and they reflect how dramatically computer science education has evolved over the past decade.

There’s a lot to unpack in these new standards so CSTA Washington will be releasing a series of blog posts to help you understand the new features in a series of blog posts starting with Introducing the 2026 CSTA PK–12 Computer Science Standards: What Washington Educators Need to Know

Washington is expected to adopt new K–12 computer science standards by the end of the 2026–27 academic year. Because our current Washington standards closely mirror the 2017 CSTA Standards, the newly released 2026 standards are likely to play a major role in shaping the next generation of computer science education across our state.

CSTA Washington at WA-ACTE 2026

CSTA Washington is at WA-ACTE 2026 in Spokane from August 2–5, 2026! Check out the following.

Visit us in Booth #45 in the Expo Hall and get a signature rubber duck
Attend Michelle Laskowski's community-building presentation Finding Your Flock: Connecting Computer Science Educators Across Washington on Sunday, Aug 2, at 3 pm.
RSVP for the CSTA Washington meetup on Monday, Aug 3, 4:30 - 7:00 pm
Learn about our new Washington CTE Growth and Demographics 2026 dashboard at Lawrence Tanimoto's Using Data to Improve Your District's Course Catalog, on Tuesday, Aug 4, 11 am
Catch Denise Thompson's must-see presentation Responsible AI in Action: Interdisciplinary AI Toolkit, on Wednesday, Aug 5, 10 am

CSTA Washington - Become A Member

"Every student is prepared for a world powered by computing."

That’s CSTA’s vision. Across Washington state, computer science is brought to life by K–12 educators at every level—whether teaching dedicated CS courses, integrating computational thinking into other subjects, full-time, or part-time.

To make this vision a reality, CSTA Washington is building a network to support every educator interested in computer science. Help us build that community together:

Become an Official CSTA Washington Member: Join both CSTA National and our local CSTA Washington chapter. Annual membership is currently just $10 when you use the discount code link here.

Stay Connected for Free: Just want local updates and this monthly newsletter? Sign up here to become a Friend of CSTA Washington at zero cost.

3rd Annual PNW CSTA Lunch and Learn
on Aug 29

“What did you do this summer?” is the theme for our 3rd Annual PNW CSTA Lunch and Learn on Saturday, August 29, from 12 – 2 pm (PST)

This “Lunch and Learn” is a virtual event where everyone gets 3-5 minutes to “share” something they learned this summer.

To share one of your PD experiences at the Lunch and Learn: Sign up here by Aug 20.

To attend the Lunch and Learn (but not necessarily speak): Sign up here by Aug 27.

PD Opportunity from Oregon CSTA

Looking for meaningful, free, virtual PD to begin your August with?

Oregon CSTA Summer SuperQuest is a series of standalone PDs from Aug 3-5 and Aug 10-12.

To learn about CSTA Washington President Michelle Laskowski's positive experience at last year's SuperQuest and how you can attend this summer, visit Upgrade your classroom, Attend SuperQuest

Interested in Cybersecurity Education?

CSTA Washington is forming a dedicated Cybersecurity Interest Group to bring our state's educators together. We are still in the formative stage where we are just asking who may be interested with an official group launch on Oct 1. To learn more and join, visit us on CSTAWA.org: Launching CSTA Washington’s Cybersecurity Interest Group - CSTA Washington

Rubber Duck Spotlight: CSTA Washington Rolls into New Orleans

CSTA Washington steamrolled into the 2026 CSTA Conference in New Orleans, July 13-15. Almost all of our 2025-26 and 2026-27 board members attended the conference. We were joined by the 2026 foundry10 computer science educator fellows and numerous other luminaries of K-12 CS Education in Washington state.

foundry10 also hosted a most excellent meetup after hours on July 14 for CSTA Washington members and special guests. Thank you, foundry10!

To learn more about our experiences at the CSTA Conference, visit Recap: CSTA Washington at CSTA Conference 2026 and register for our virtual Lunch and Learn on Aug 29 where we share our impressions of the conference and more and wish that it was still July.

New on CSTAWA in July

In July 2026, the following CSTAWA.org posts were created or significantly updated:

CSTA Washington Social Media

CSTA Washington has created a Facebook and LinkedIn pages 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 Washington Team

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