Playful Formative Assessments for Computer Science in NYC (P-FACS)

Integrating computer science into schools is one of the biggest curriculum developments for K-12 public education in decades. New York City's CS4All rollout is serving as a model for other cities and states, as their program integrates computer science concepts across disciplines for all public school students.

 As such, it is important to help teachers and their students understand generative, creative, and equitable learning goals. This project will design, develop, and study formative assessments to help students and teachers understand how, what, and why they are learning.

The work will address research questions about how to provide formative learning assessments that support an equity-focused education by:
(a) providing useful feedback to teachers and students;
(b) engaging students in authentic tasks; and 
(c) integrating CS in the disciplines.

The assessment will be open-sourced and made available to hundreds of students and their teachers during the life of the project, with the eventual goal of serving the 100,000+ middle school students in NYC.

The project will provide insight on research and design in areas as diverse as assessment design, CS education curricula, and educational game design. This project is a partnership with: SRI; Teachers College, Columbia University; Georgia Tech; and CSNYC.