The Wind River Elementary Computer Science Collaborative is a research-practice partnership (RPP) among three school districts serving Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone communities on the Wind River Reservation, the Wyoming Department of Education, BootUp PD, and the American Institutes for Research. The purpose of the Collaborative is to support development and sustainability of K-8 computer science (CS) education through professional development, capacity-building, and connections to the school and broader communities. Since 2019, the Collaborative has engaged elementary and middle school educators and explored how to build sustainability of CS education in Indigenous communities. In this report, we share strategies our Collaborative used to foster sustainable CS instruction in our fourth and fifth years of implementation. We share teacher and student survey results that suggest progress toward sustainability, including increases in teacher self-efficacy and evidence of developing CS identities in students. We use teacher feedback and interviews to reflect on key features of the RPP's structure that supported sustainability and share future steps we plan to take to address continued challenges.

The Idaho Elementary Computer Science Collaborative (IECC) Collaborative is a research-practice partnership (RPP) among the Idaho STEM Action Center (Idaho STEM AC), the American Institutes for Research (AIR), and BootUp Professional Development (BootUp PD). The purpose of the IECC is to explore the strengths and challenges rural school districts bring to the process of developing and implementing elementary computer science (CS) pathways. The IECC conducted interviews with CS leaders in five districts across the state. Analysis of the interviews provided insight into both the nuances of local contexts and the values, issues, and challenges common across rural districts. In this poster, we discuss how the shared challenge of low exposure to CS, the shared strength of community connections to education, and the similar processes of curriculum adoption played out with local nuances in five rural Idaho districts. We discuss implications for developing elementary CS pathways in rural contexts.

The Idaho Elementary Computer Science (CS) Collaborative (IECC) is a researcher-practitioner partnership dedicated to understanding how to better support the predominately rural districts in Idaho to implement elementary CS education. As part of the IECC's work, we conducted a survey of elementary teachers across the state. This poster will present our initial findings. Two of the research questions we addressed via the survey are: (1) What factors would motivate Idaho elementary teachers to pursue professional development (PD) related to CS? (2) What are elementary teachers' perceptions of the value of connecting CS education to rural community economies and industries? Descriptive analyses of 309 survey responses suggest that about three-quarters of elementary teachers reported that the following factors would be at least somewhat influential in their decisions to pursue CS PD: a K-5 computational thinking requirement, a district-wide CS planning staff, a pathway for elementary teachers to earn a certification in CS teaching, and a way to request CS PD funding. Few (9%) Idaho elementary teachers found that the perception of a disconnect between CS education and rural community interests was a significant barrier to elementary CS education. Even so, over 70% of them were moderately to strongly interested in mechanisms for connecting their CS education efforts to rural community industries through guest speakers and industry partnerships. The poster will discuss the implications of these and other emerging findings from the teacher survey, as well as IECC's related surveys of Idaho district superintendents and elementary school principals.

The Wind River Elementary Computer Science (WRECS) Collaborative is a research-practice partnership (RPP) among three school districts serving Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho communities on the Wind River Reservation, the Wyoming Department of Education (WDE), BootUp Professional Development (BootUp PD), and the American Institutes for Research (AIR). The purpose of the WRECS Collaborative is to develop culturally sustaining elementary computer science (CS) education through integration of CS and Indigenous studies. The Collaborative engaged three cohorts of elementary educators in cycles of professional development, classroom implementation, and group reflection over the 2020-21, 2021-22, and 2022-23 school years. In this experience report, we share a set of reflections and lessons learned as the RPP developed relationships and worked through intersecting priorities, instructional goals, and ways of knowing and learning present within the RPP.