ADE Commissioner Jacob Oliva
Jacob Oliva
Secretary | Read Bio 
Department of Education

Arkansas Department of Education Division of Elementary and Secondary Education Select Computer Science and Computing Year 1 Courses Approved to Be Taught to 8th Grade Students

Memo Information

Memo Number
COM-21-099
Memo Date
3/15/2021
Memo Type
Informational
Unit
Central Administration
Regulatory Authority
Response Required
NO
Attention
Federal Programs; Superintendents; Assistant Superintendent; Principals; Technology Coordinators; Test Coordinators; General Business Managers; Teachers; Gifted & Talented Coordinators; Curriculum Coordinators; Bookkeepers; School Counselors; Techstart Coordinators or Contact Name; Equity Coordinators (Disability/Race/Gender/National Origin); Child Nutrition Directors/Managers; Data Stewards (SIS; eSchool; eFinance; TRIAND); District Coordinators (ALE; Homeless; ESOL; SDFS & Foster); Parent Involvement Coordinators/Facilitators; CTE Coordinator (COOPs and regular school districts)

Primary Contact Information

Secondary Contact/s Information

Memo Text

The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) Office of Computer Science is pleased to announce that on March 11, 2021, the Arkansas State Board of Education provided approval for any Arkansas Public School District to provide instruction and high school credit to 8th graders for the following Arkansas Computer Science and Computing courses:

 

  • Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning - Year 1 (465410)

  • Computer Engineering - Year 1 (465470)

  • Cyber Security - Year 1 (465270)

  • Data Science - Year 1 (465710)

  • Game Development and Design - Year 1 (465670)

  • Mobile Application Development - Year 1 (465370)

  • Networking - Year 1 (465170)

  • Programming - Year 1 (465070)

  • Robotics - Year 1 (465570)

 

The approved grades in which each of these courses may be taught for high school credit will be grades 8-12 instead of grades 9-12, beginning July 1, 2021.

 

Schools may teach these courses to students in Grade 8 without submitting an approval request through the ADE Course Approval System.

 

Licensure requirements will remain the same, regardless of the grades in which the courses are offered.


This approval shall remain in effect until June 30, 2025, which is when the current Computer Science and Computing standards are set to expire.

 

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