Exploring Computer Science is excited to offer our week-long summer professional development program in Denver, CO this year, Monday, July 28-Friday, August 1, 2025. Teachers will receive a stipend for their participation.
See our FAQ below for additional information. See our Teacher Program page for more information about our PD program.
Eligibility
In order to be eligible for ECS PD, teachers must:
- have ECS on their school schedule as a full course in 2025-26
- be teaching ECS in a high school (grades 9-12)
- commit to participating in the full ECS PD experience—5 days in summer 2025, 4 quarterly ECS online PD sessions through the school year, and 5 additional days in summer 2026
- be able to get their principal to agree to support their participation in the entire PD sequence
In order to confirm your registration, you must submit a signed letter of commitment from your principal within a week of your notification of acceptance. We will provide a template for you to use for your principal letter when we send the notification of acceptance.
Equity
Our commitment to equity includes ensuring that teachers and students who have been historically minoritized in CS have access to meaningful learning opportunities. As such, we encourage teachers to apply who have experienced systemic barriers to quality PD and/or whose students have experienced systemic barriers to quality CS education.
Frequently Asked Questions
- A year-long, research-based, high school intro-level computer science program that includes a set of curricular materials and a teacher professional development (PD) program focusing on broadening participation in computing. The teacher PD sessions are central to growing as a ECS teacher.
- Developed in response to previous research, detailed in Stuck in the Shallow End by Jane Margolis and colleagues (2008, 2nd ed. 2017), that identified disparities in CS learning opportunities along race and socioeconomic lines.
- Supports teachers and districts through implementation of the course regardless of school resources.
- Introduces CS holistically to high school students and teachers, especially as it relates to people, communities, and societies. Programming is used as a tool for solving problems.
- Teachers must commit to attending the two-year PD sessions spread across two summers and four quarters in between.
- For the academic year (AY) 2025-26, teachers will have to commit to attend summer PD sessions during Summer 2025 from July 28-August 1, 2025 and Summer 2026, and four virtual quarterly day-long sessions during the school year.
- Teachers will need a letter of support from their leadership, affirming that they will teach ECS in the 2025-26 academic year.
- As we have seen in ongoing research, effective teacher learning requires multiple PD sessions over time, with several opportunities to grow and reflect.
If you are a district- or state-level administrator, you can:
- Identify and recruit teachers whose schools can benefit from the ECS program.
- Encourage teachers to apply who have experienced systemic barriers to quality PD and/or whose students have experienced systemic barriers to quality CS education.
If you are a school administrator, you can:
- Learn more about the program by exploring our website.
- Identify the teacher(s) in your school, and provide your letter of commitment to teach the program in your school
If you would like to reach out to us about implementation, contact Gail Chapman at chapgail@gmail.com.
- Learn more about the curricular materials and the PD offerings
- Talk to your school leadership or administration about teaching the ECS course
- Make sure your school administration will agree to place ECS on the 2025-26 calendar as a full course
- Make sure your school leadership will support your participation in the full PD program
ECS Summer PD is all expenses paid. We will connect you with our travel agent to purchase a flight for you to Denver, and we will host all participants at a hotel. Almost all meals will be catered, with attention paid to participant dietary restrictions. The few meals that will not be catered will be considered to be covered by a travel stipend, which will be sent out after the PD along with your participation stipend. The travel stipend also covers expenses such as luggage and transit to/from airports.
The participation stipend is $1,250. There will also be a travel stipend, amount TBD.
If there’s something that will help make the PD program more accessible to you, please contact us at exploringcs@uoregon.edu. We are working on including more accessibility features in the version 10 curriculum.