In need of a Computer Science upgrade
Sheboygan Falls High School needs to recruit a qualified teacher to modernize its computer science courses
Sheboygan Falls High School has a robust offering of advanced courses in many subjects, including CCIHS (College Credit in High School) courses in Pre-Calculus, Calculus, Chemistry, First Year Writing, Introduction to Education, Human Biology, Research and Rhetoric, Spanish 5, and US History. Students would also greatly benefit from an advanced and modern Computer Science offering.
Our current Computer Science offering maxes out with Intermediate Programming II.1 The course teaches user interface development, a highly valuable skill, but does so using a technology called Swing that was superseded a decade and a half ago. While the fundamentals of programming are timeless, the industry learns over time and develops more effective coding patterns. Students intuitively gain insight into their own designs by exploring the design of the technologies they build upon. An analogy is students in an engine class building upon an internal combustion engine to enhance it. The engine from a Ford Model T will work, but one from a Ford Fusion will immerse the class in a superior design.
Programming with modern tools and frameworks also feels more relevant and energizing to students. That said, there is a balance to be struck. The software industry moves rapidly, and we wouldn’t expect or even desire curricula to follow the “bleeding edge”. Currently, though, we’re too far behind. I’ve had good conversations with our administration and our cooperative educational service agency. Both are working to catch us up, including coordinating prerequisite learning and finding a teacher with the requisite skill set, rather than relying on Wisconsin Virtual School (WVS) as we do now. I’m encouraged by the progress and looking forward to the fruits of our efforts to prepare students for modern, college-level computer science.
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Paying teachers based on merit
The current seniority-pay system has been too inflexible to attract the educator talent needed to teach modern computer science. A merit-based pay system will provide the flexibility to better prepare our students for the excellent career paths in tech available to them.
Sheboygan Falls High School Course Guide, 2024-25, page 53.