Computer Science Teacher Certification Requirements
Ensuring Exemplary Teaching in an Essential Discipline:
Addressing the Crisis in Computer Science Teacher Certification

For computer science teachers, the challenge of becoming and remaining exemplary educators is hampered by systems of
pre-service education and teacher certification that are profoundly disconnected from the discipline of computer science
and the needs of teachers and students.
This white paper addresses a number of aspects of the crisis in high school computer science teacher certification. It
includes a comprehensive description of the issues relating to certification, a review of the relevant research literature,
a selection of examples of current teacher certification models, and a set of recommendations for a multi-level model that
will provide detailed requirements for educators from multiple pathways, including new teachers, teachers from other
disciplines with computer science experience, teachers with no computer science experience, and people transitioning to
teaching from business and industry.
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A Link Between Certification and AP CS
The CSTA Certification Committee feel it is interesting to note that there may be a link between strong teacher certification
requirements and the number of students who write the AP CS A exam in each state. Both Maryland and Texas have strong
teaching certification requirements and therefore it is interesting to look at the data from 1998 to 2008 and see what
this might mean if other states adopt stronger teacher requirements. Maryland bucked the national trend and has steadily
increased the number of students taking the CS AP A exam from 1998 to 2008.
| MARYLAND
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| Year
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1998
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1999
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2000
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2001
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2002
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2003
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2004
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2005
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2006
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2007
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2008
|
Students
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119
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337
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480
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571
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599
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623
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673
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725
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752
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808
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895
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And while Texas did have a decline in 2003, the number of TX students writing the CS AP A exam has been increasing since
then. Texas now has more students taking the AP CS A exam than any other state by over 900 students (Calif is second with
2135 in 2008).
| TEXAS
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|
| Year
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1998
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1999
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2000
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2001
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2002
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2003
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2004
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2005
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2006
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2007
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2008
|
Students
|
825
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1266
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1743
|
2110
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2191
|
1980
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2099
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2167
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2411
|
2593
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2951
|
|
CSTA Certification Database
This section of the site is intended to provide CSTA members with easy-to-access information regarding
computer science teacher certification and endorsement requirements across the United States. By logging in,
you will have access to a summary table of all state certification information, as well as information for individual
states.
You must be a CSTA member in order to access this information. Please log in below, or become a member here.
(Please note that new memberships take about two hours to be activated.)
Forgotten your CSTA Membership Number? Click here to go to My Member Info.
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Be sure to type the information directly into the boxes rather than cutting and pasting from another source.
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