On February 10, 2022, the Arkansas State Board of Education (SBE) approved changes to the passed rules aligned to the Computer Science Education Advancement Act of 2021 - Act 414 of the 93rd General Assembly (Act 414). These rules, which are found within the Division of Elementary and Secondary (DESE) Rules Governing Grading Scales and Course Credit and DESE Rules Governing Standards for Accreditation of Arkansas Public Schools, provide clarification on the two primary requirements of Act 414, which was signed into law by Governor Asa Hutchinson on March 23, 2021. 

Act 414 is an extension of Act 187 of 2015, which established the requirement that every high school must make a computer science course available to students.

District and school leaders should note that the 2022-2023 school year is the first year that any requirements created under this legislation take effect, which allows the 2021-2022 school year to be a planning and/or early implementation year.

Pursuant to Act 414 and the rules passed by the SBE on February 10, 2022, 

• beginning with the 9th grade class of 2022-2023, every student will be required to earn one credit in a high school Computer Science or Computing Course for graduation, and
• beginning in the 2023-2024 school year, every public high school must employ at least one high school computer science certified teacher.

The following is a further explanation of each of these legislative and regulatory requirements.

Graduation Requirement

This requirement, for every student to earn one full high school computer science credit to graduate (starting with the 9th grade class of 2022-2023), does not increase the number of state-required credits for graduation. The Triand business rules will be updated to search for, and identify, at least one course credit on the student’s transcript which meets the requirement. Currently, this is any course code that begins with 465 or 565. This credit may be earned by the student in Grades 8-12.

As a reminder, course codes that begin with 465 or 565 have been approved as Computer Science Flex Credit bearing courses. The Computer Science Flex Credit allows a student’s computer science credit to count towards the existing 4th math, 3rd science, and/or career focus credit requirements that already exist. A list of the high school courses, course codes, and required standards may be accessed at https://bit.ly/ARCSCourses.

Certified Computer Science Teacher

A certified computer science teacher must be employed in every high school in Arkansas beginning with the 2023-2024 school year. 

“Computer science teacher” - an individual who holds an Arkansas teaching license or technical permit that includes a computer science certification, endorsement, approval, or technical permit code that meets the Division’s requirement for a computer science teacher.

Beginning with the 2023-2024 school year, a public school district shall employ a computer science teacher at each high school in the district.

The computer science teacher shall be the teacher of record for at least one course each school year through which a student may earn a computer science credit.

A computer science teacher may be shared among high schools within the same public school district provided the computer science teacher acts as the teacher of record at each high school in accordance with the previous bullet.

Licensure codes that will meet the Certified Computer Science Teacher requirement currently include: 

• the 528 standard Computer Science licensure,

• the 5013 Computer Science Technical Permit for Classified Staff, 
• the 5014 Computer Science Technical Permit, and 
• the 5016 Computer Science Approval Code. 

To support meeting this requirement, the ADE Office of Computer Science provides many options, with no cost to the schools and participants. More information on our state-provided professional development may be found at https://bit.ly/CSforARPDDes. 

In addition, the ADE Office of Computer Science has announced opportunities for the 2022 Arkansas Computer Science and Computing Educator Academy (CSCEA). Upon completion of the CSCEA, participants may be eligible for one of the approved licensure codes. More information on the CSCEA may be accessed at: https://adecm.ade.arkansas.gov/ViewApprovedMemo.aspx?Id=5059 

The ADE Office of Computer Science is available to assist Arkansas educators in determining which of our many flexible pathways to CS certification would best fit their school’s needs.

These rules have been approved by the Arkansas State Board of Education; however, they will not become final until they are approved by the Arkansas Legislative Council and 10 days after being filed with the Arkansas Secretary of State. Once this process is completed they will be posted within the Current Rules section of the Arkansas Department of Education – Division of Elementary and Secondary Education website found at https://dese.ade.arkansas.gov/Offices/Legal/CurrentRules.