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Integrating computer science into the United States schools is one of the most significant changes being made to K-12 public education in decades. The New York City CS4All initiative is a leader in this educational reform and serves as a model for other cities and states. One aspect of the NYC efforts is to integrate computer science concepts across disciplines. A challenge with this approach is helping non-computer science teachers, and their students, in assessing if they have met computer science learning goals. The three-year NSF funded STEM+C project Formative Assessments for Computer Science in NYC project seeks to create a method to measure this learning through an interactive technology-enhanced assessment system that will provide formative feedback to students and teachers. 

This project will address core research questions about how to provide ongoing assessment of student computer science (CS) learning that: (a) provides useful feedback to teachers and students; (b) is appealing for students to engage with; and (c) can be used with a wide diversity of curricula that integrate CS and STEM domains. The tool will be open-sourced and made available to approximately 600 students during the project, with an eye to serve over 100,000 diverse and low-income NYC middle school students, and eventually to other districts across the U.S. In addition, we anticipate this project will provide insight on research and design in areas as diverse as assessment, CS Ed curricula, and educational game design.