Maryland Computer Science Standards
With Progressions & Annotations
Maryland Computer Science Standards
Like the national computer science standards, the Maryland CS standards are divided into five concepts:
Computing Systems
Networks and the Internet
Data Analysis
Algorithms and Programming
Impacts of Computing
These concepts are divided into sub-concepts, and some of the sub-concepts are further divided. The standards are named using a code that specifies the grade, the concept and the sub-concept. So standard K.AP.C.01 is the Kindergarten (K) standard for the Algorithms and Programming (AP) concept, the sub-concept Control (C) and it is the first (01), and in this case only, standard in that sub-concept.
Access the K-12 Maryland Computer Science Standards on the Maryland State Department of Education Computer Science webpage.
Two PDF versions are available:
The annotations of the Maryland Computer Science Standards were developed by and for elementary and middle school educators, administrators, and curriculum developers. Their purpose of the annotations is to provide clarity about the standards and how they can be implemented in elementary classrooms. We are grateful to the educators who gave their time and expertise to develop and review these annotations. These are living documents, please provide feedback by email.
For each standard at each grade K-8, the annotation has an explanation, essential skills and essential questions. There is also a "Think of this as similar to..." which gives a non-computer science example of a similar concept. Please note that for the essential skills, students are expected to have all skills from preceding grades as well as the skills listed specifically for the grade of interest. Please refer to the Essential Skills documents to see the skills progression for each standard.
There are also implementation examples which are brief descriptions of activities to provide an idea of what the standard could look like in a classroom. Where available, there is a link to a complete lesson plan which may have to be adapted to be implemented as described. Alignments with other computer science and other content area standards are provided as applicable. These examples are not meant to be a curriculum. The same example is described for multiple grade levels to provide a sense of skill progression and ideas for differentiation. The intention is not for the same lesson to be implemented year after year.
Words that are bolded are defined in the glossary which is under development. There are glossaries at the end of the Maryland CS standards linked above as well as the K-12 CS Education Glossary on the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) website.
The annotations are available to view and download in PDF format. Explore the annotations!
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