Standards Development Process

In October 2018, an Authoring Workgroup and Review Panel were formed to ensure representation from all regions and community types.  From October 2018 through March 2019, the Authoring Workgroup worked to produce a first draft of the new standards.  In April 2019, the Authoring Workgroup members cross-reviewed standards written by colleagues and provided feedback to the New York State Education Department. The second draft of the Standards was then shared with the Review Panel.  Each member of the Review Panel provided both a high-level review of all standards and an in-depth review of the standards through one of the following “lenses” (perspectives): Clarity and Focus, Coherence and Progression, Equity, Interdisciplinary Connections, Rigor, Relevance and Engagement, and Specificity.

In July and August 2019, Department staff and a computer science education consultant revised the standards to address the Review Panel feedback and Department policy and expectations.  The draft was presented to the Executive Standards Committee and Department Senior Leadership in September.  Revisions were made based on their input, and the draft was finalized for release for stakeholder feedback.

The draft standards were then published to solicit broad stakeholder feedback from October 15 to November 15, 2019.  NYSED received 410 survey responses representing 839 individuals and members of organizations across New York, with 564 leaving specific comments.  The majority of responses were from K-12 educators and administrators; feedback was also received from higher education, advocacy groups, business/industry, nonprofit organizations, parents, students, and school board members.  Approximately 60 percent of respondents indicated that they either moderately or strongly supported the standards overall; however, several themes clearly emerged as priorities for immediate revision.

NYSED convened a workgroup to address the stakeholder feedback priorities and revise the standards accordingly, while still adhering to the Guiding Principles and ensuring the standards are rigorous and focus on the most important knowledge and skills.

At the January 2020 meeting of the New York State Board of Regents, the Board of Regents granted the draft NYS K-12 Computer Science and Digital Fluency Standards Conditional Approval, with the expectation that NYSED staff engage further with early learning experts to ensure the K-2 grade band standards are developmentally appropriate, and that both the clarifying statements and provided examples are helpful and relevant to K-2 teachers.

The Early Learning Review Committee was formed and included NYS Certified teachers and experts in Early Learning from across the state, as well as representation from the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT).The Committee convened its first meeting in February 2020 to begin reviewing and revising the Early Learning standards. The updated draft Standards were presented to the Executive Standards Committee in November 2020 for final feedback.

The updated Draft NYS K-12 Computer Science and Digital Fluency Standards were approved at the December 2020 meeting of the NYS Board of Regents.