The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) Office of Computer Science is pleased to announce its support for up to 35 Arkansas educators to attend the 2020 Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) Annual Conference in Arlington, Virginia. The purpose of these sponsorships is to provide financial assistance to Arkansas educators assisting them with expanding their knowledge of computer science and networking with other educators from around the world through the unique experience of the CSTA Conference.

"The CSTA annual conference is the premier computer science professional learning event of the year and these scholarships will make it accessible to even more outstanding teachers," said Jake Baskin, Executive Director of the Computer Science Teachers Association. "Arkansas is always well represented at our events, and I can't wait to see what sort of flare they bring to this year's conference. Thank you to Governor Hutchinson for his continued support of teachers and leadership in CS education."

Selected educators will receive a $2,000.00 sponsorship, after the conference, to offset the expenses associated with attending the conference. This is an increase from previous years’ sponsorships due to the growth and extension in number of days of the CSTA conference. The increase will also provide educators with additional funding to offset the costs of attending pre-conference sessions. The sponsorships are open to teachers, librarians, curriculum coordinators, counselors, and other educators who serve as an example of a passionate technology integrator and/or computer science educator in their Arkansas K-12 public school or district. To receive the $2,000.00 sponsorship, selected educators will be required to attend the CSTA Conference and participate in various conference and state delegation related activities.

To receive the $2,000.00 sponsorship, selected educators will be required to: 

• Attend the CSTA Conference in Arlington, Virginia on July 11–15, 2020,
• Attend an Arkansas delegation event while at the conference,
• Be present for and participate in taking Arkansas delegation photos during the conference,
• Provide ADE with a completed ADE photo release form, 
• Acknowledge that the $2,000.00 can only be provided at the conclusion of the conference and may not cover all expenses, and
• Acknowledge that while session attendance and participation will not be monitored that the purpose of this award is to assist Arkansas educators expand their knowledge of computer science and network with other educators from around the world through participating in conference activities.

Responsibilities of the Selected Educator include, but may not be limited to:

• Personally registering for the CSTA 2020 Conference,
• Personally registering for any housing/hotel needs,
• Personally arranging for all travel needs,

• Making appropriate school and district leadership aware of this sponsorship, and
• Being liable and responsible for any and all taxes owed in connection with the award.

The ADE Office of Computer Science is taking applications until 4:00p.m. on December 31, 2019, via the application form found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/75DFQ8Z.  Results from that application will be used to make the selections. Selected teachers will be contacted and publicly announced by ADE by 4:00p.m. on January 31, 2020.

For more information on the CSTA Conference please visit http://bit.ly/CSTA2020Reg 

This is Computer Science Education Week; Arkansas is releasing a new Computer Science related announcement and/or commitment each day of this week. For a full listing of the announcements as they are made please visit the ADE Computer Science Webpages at: http://bit.ly/ARCSedWeek