41 [Topic] One Voice in CS – Improving Teaching Practice Using the CSTA Standards

In this episode of One Voice in CS, host Shawn Patrick Higgins sits down with Vicky Sedgwick, Dan Blier, and Sara Gifford to talk about Using the CSTA Student Standards for CS to improve practice, and a new free, self-paced course that helps teachers reflect on their practice through the CSTA Standards for CS Teachers. Vicky and Dan have been part of the Reflective Teachers work group since 2019 and explain why a course was always the goal: there are only so many conference sessions two people can give, and every teacher, with or without a local chapter, deserves a way in whenever they are ready. Sara piloted the course as a middle school CS teacher and shares what happened when she picked one standard, worked through it with an AI thought partner instead of a discussion board, and brought the ideas back to the class that was giving her the hardest time. Along the way the three talk about how teacher feedback reshaped the materials, how chapters can take the course together, and what changes now that the 2026 PK-12 student standards are here.