iSchools as Venues for Expanding the K-12 Computer Science Teacher Pipeline

There is a national shortage of certified computer science (CS) teachers. While significant effort and resources have been put towards addressing this shortage, the number of newly certified CS teachers entering the profession each year remains low. In this position paper, we argue that Colleges of Information Studies (iSchools) can serve as fertile grounds for recruiting future K-12 CS teachers. The motivation for looking to iSchools as venues for expanding the K-12 CS teacher pipeline is threefold: (1) the content taught in undergraduate iSchool programs closely aligns with K-12 CS content, (2) undergraduate programs in iSchools are experiencing rapid growth in enrollment and have a diverse student body, and (3) iSchools focus on social aspects of computing and thus attract students well-suited for K-12 teaching as a profession. To develop these arguments, we review the content of top iSchool undergraduate programs, showing the alignment between iSchool undergraduate coursework and K-12 CS. Further, using the University of Maryland's Bachelor of Science in Information Sciences as a case study, we show how iSchools can serve as contexts for preparing future K-12 CS teachers. Collectively, this work seeks to expand how we think about recruiting future CS teachers, explicating arguing for iSchools as venues for expanding the K-12 CS teacher pipeline.