Computer Science, Programming, and Coding Standards by Grade Level

By: Tony DePrato | Follow me on Twitter @tdeprato

A while back I took the ISTE NETS Standards and decided to create a grade level based layout for what students should be able to do at different grade levels.

As the students continue to progress through their education, the grade level view expands gradually. The idea is that they keep repeating activities and meeting these standards.

Here is what the current design looks like:

Years 3 & 4:

Effectively use primitive data types
Effectively use, manipulate, and explain various external data types (text, images, sound, etc.), various locations (local, server, cloud), etc.

Year 5:

Effectively use primitive data types
Effectively use, manipulate, and explain various external data types (text, images, sound, etc.), various locations (local, server, cloud), etc.
Effectively use modeling and simulation to solve real-world problems
Effectively use two or more development environments

Year 6:

Effectively use primitive data types
Effectively use, manipulate, and explain various external data types (text, images, sound, etc.), various locations (local, server, cloud), etc.
Effectively use modeling and simulation to solve real-world problems
Effectively use two or more development environments
Demonstrate an understanding of operating systems and networking in a structured computer system

Year 7:

Effectively use primitive data types
Effectively use, manipulate, and explain various external data types (text, images, sound, etc.), various locations (local, server, cloud), etc.
Effectively use modeling and simulation to solve real-world problems
Effectively use two or more development environments
Demonstrate an understanding of operating systems and networking in a structured computer system
Using a modern, high-level programming language, construct correctly functioning programs involving simple and structured data types; compound boolean expressions; and sequential, conditional, and iterative control structures

Year 8:

Effectively use primitive data types
Effectively use, manipulate, and explain various external data types (text, images, sound, etc.), various locations (local, server, cloud), etc.
Effectively use modeling and simulation to solve real-world problems
Effectively use two or more development environments
Demonstrate an understanding of operating systems and networking in a structured computer system
Using a modern, high-level programming language, construct correctly functioning programs involving simple and structured data types; compound boolean expressions; and sequential, conditional, and iterative control structures
Design and test algorithms and programming solutions to problems in different contexts (textual, numeric, graphic,
etc.) using advanced data structures

Years 9 & 10:

Effectively use primitive data types
Effectively use, manipulate, and explain
various external data types (text, images, sound, etc.), various locations (local, server, cloud), etc.
Effectively use modeling and simulation to solve real-world problems
Effectively use two or more development environments
Demonstrate an understanding of operating systems and networking in a structured computer system
Using a modern, high-level programming language, construct correctly functioning programs involving simple and structured data types; compound boolean expressions; and sequential, conditional, and iterative control structures
Design and test algorithms and programming solutions to problems in different contexts (textual, numeric, graphic, etc.) using advanced data structures
Demonstrate an understanding of the operation of computer networks and mobile computing devices
Demonstrate knowledge of two or more programming paradigms

Years 11 & 12:

Effectively use primitive data types
Effectively use, manipulate, and explain
various external data types (text, images, sound, etc.), various locations (local, server, cloud), etc.
Effectively use modeling and simulation to solve real-world problems
Effectively use two or more development environments
Demonstrate an understanding of operating systems and networking in a structured computer system
Using a modern, high-level programming language, construct correctly functioning programs involving simple and structured data types; compound boolean expressions; and sequential, conditional, and iterative control structures
Design and test algorithms and programming solutions to problems in different contexts (textual, numeric, graphic, etc.) using advanced data structures
Demonstrate an understanding of the operation of computer networks and mobile computing devices
Demonstrate knowledge of two or more programming paradigms
Analyze algorithms by considering complexity, efficiency, aesthetics, and correctness
Demonstrate an understanding of static and dynamic data structures