AP Computer Science Report Virginia is for some Coders

The AP data is out for 2013. Some great increased nationwide. AP Computer Science went from 26,103 to 31,117 total exams given, a 19% increase. This was the highest increase out of all of the subject areas. But keep in mind AP Calculus had 282,814 exams last year, so we have a ways to go.

Virginia had 1655 AP Computer Science  exams with a mean score of 3.12. Last year we had 1430 tests with an average of 2.98. Over the past 5 years there has been an 81% increase in the number of APCS exams given. This year was also the highest mean score for the past five years, so some great progress has been made.

According to the state report card 67,805 students took AP exams in 2013 (data here). So teh APCS exam accounted for about 2.5% of the overall number of AP exams given.

Which all sounds great, until you start to look a little deeper.

When you look, in 2013 the number of black students taking the exam was 3. Our max in the past 5 years was 6. Six. That year my personal AP class was 1/3 of those African American students.

Demographically Virginia is about 20% black. With roughly 375,502 students enrolled in Virginia public high schools last year (2013 enrollment data) that means we have roughly 75,000 African American students at the high school level, and 3 took the AP Computer Science exam.

If we randomly assigned students electives we would have fared better.

And you can look at any of the subgroups and see the same trend. For instance for the 2013 exam 25% of the 8 Hispanic students to take the exam sat in my classroom.

Now Im a big believer at starting with data and getting to the stories underneath. The bottom line in Virginia is access.

For instance, Richmond city schools, a predominantly African American school district has no computer science classes. None, zippo, zilch.

This is not about diversity for diversitys sake. This means these kids do not have access to jobs. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics Virginia is 4th in the nation for jobs in this area, but 12th population wise. This means we have the highest concentration of jobs nationwide in computer science. Washington DC and Virginia rank #1 and 2 for salary nationwide - so these great jobs cannot be filled by huge numbers of our children. A child sitting in Kindergarten in Richmond City Schools today may never even know this field exists, literally blocks from the front door of their school

And at a deeper level, computer science is the tool we use to solve human problems. Being the person holding the tool means you get to decide what is a problem and what gets a solution. These numbers mean these communities do not get to participate.

So to change the data, we have to change the stories. Every high school in the state needs computer science classes that are rigorous and relevant for its students. That means trained teachers and a working curriculum. Kids and parents need to know that this is an option for them, that they can create using this tool. They need to be able to tell their stories as we build the future.

A few things to put Virginia in Context:

• Virginia has not adopted common core
• Our K-12 end of course tests are called the SOLs (Standards of Learning). Yes, really
• AP Computer Science counts as a 4th math credit here, but only if you are going for an advanced diploma, and you have passed Alg II. were working on it
• We are a Commonwealth, which means our school systems are driven at the local level, not by top down policy and curriculum from the state.
• Out legislature meets either 4 or 6 weeks a year, thats it. 

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To Make a Program you Have to Break Some Eggs

One of my favorite toys in computer science are plastic eggs. Cheap and they can be used to teach so many things. We are working on searches and sorts in the APCS class right now. They also work well when doing algorithms in the CS Principles class.

To start with searches and sorts I use plastic eggs filled with fish tank gravel. Email your faculty and parents - I guarantee you can get these for free. Fill the eggs with varying amount of gravel and tape them shut. Better yet have a kid do this. You are busy.

I let the kids pick a partner and each pair gets 6 or 7 eggs. Please do not forget to explain that the eggs do not have candy in them. I didnt do that the first time we did this and it made for a very disappointing mess.

Have them put the eggs in a row then "search" for the heaviest egg. Write out the steps you followed.

On the board I then do:

int eggs[] = new int[6];

This is in the APCS class, in CS Principles I make this less formal since they will be doing this in Scratch.

I have the kids come to the board and write out their algorithm, in Java in the APCS, pseudocode in CS Pricniples, using this array. Bam! They just all created a Linear Search.

So, why eggs?

I used to do this writing numbers on the board. They watched and I did. It is always better when THEY do. They are going to remember the Linear Search much better if it was their idea in the first place. 

Also, when you do numbers the amazing processor that is the human brain can just scan the list and pick the biggest. No problem. 

But a computer cannot do that - it cannot just look at a data set in aggregate and pick one. It must "touch" every piece of data in the set and make a comparison. Which is exactly what the kids do with the eggs. Point that out, they should know that.

This is also a good time to go over swapping. They get so confused on this.

How many times have you had them try to swap two numbers and they do:

a = b;

b = a;

Here is the fix: Hand each group some cups - make it look like you are giving them an arbitrary number, but make sure they all get at least 3.

Rule - you can only have an egg in a cup. NEVER can you have two eggs in a  cup. Now swap two eggs.

Again, once they get the point of using a third cup, you have them write out the algorithm in the language of your choice.

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SOME IMPORTANT SHORT KEYS

If you feel that your mouse is not working properly, than you can use these short keys to operate without mouse. Here are some common short keys.

Alt + Space + R
This short key reduces the size of window

Alt + Space + M
You can move any small size window to any corner of your desktop.Use arrows keys to move left, right, top or bottom and press Enter.

Alt + Space + X
You can maximize  any small window by pressing this short key.

Alt+space+N
To minimize any window use this short key.

Alt + Tab.
Maximize any minimized window.  Moreover if you are using two or more than two programs then you can also use this short key to select your required programe.

Win+U+U
If you want to shut down your computer without mouse then press window key and then press “U” key 2 times.

Win + U + R
Use these keys to restart your Computer.

You can change the name of any folder without mouse.

Simply highlight required folder through arrows key and press “F2”. Write the name of folder and press Enter.

Open New tab in Google chrome.

You can easily open a new tab in google chrome by pressing Alt+T

Similarly you can close tab by pressing Alt+W

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NOTE:- IF these codes are not working Properly please visit our Facebook page and copy these codes from there .

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