Cyber Security Education in K-12
NORTH DAKOTA
MINEOLA UFSD
North Dakota has added a graduation requirement that requires students to complete cyber security or computer science classes to graduate. This content will be provided from elementary school though high school to prepare students "for the world they live in now." The required content can be learned through dedicated courses or classes with embedded content. North Dakota's plan to educate students in cybersecurity and computer science has been in the planning stage for quite some time. The state adopted computer science and cybersecurity standards in 2019 and then approved cybersecurity and computer science certifications for teachers in the same calendar year to grow their base of qualified educators. Making computer science and cybersecurity education a graduation requirement will bring this curriculum to under represented populations in the state and give students more opportunities to qualify for tech jobs.
Mineola UFSD is working to address the cybersecurity talent shortage by offering a Cybersecurity Education Program to Mineola High School students. We interviewed Mineola High School's Principal Dr. Nicole
Culella and the program's talented instructors, Kuri Defidi and Victoria
Berkowitz, about this new program that will be offered next school year. Here are some excerpts: Interviewer : What inspired Mineola HS to develop a cybersecurity education program, and would you call it a program, a pathway, or both? Mineola : I (Dr. Cullela) would say both. It's a program in terms of being comprehensive, and it is a pathway in terms of being hybrid and dynamic. Learners can enroll in the entire program or the entire pathway, or take portions of the program. It seems like a perfect fit for us as we have a continuum of computer science courses that exposes and provides opportunities to all learners. Interviewer : What are the program objectives? Mineola : A big part of the program is to get our learners career ready for cybersecurity if they choose that path, and to open that window of opportunity. The pathway as it's planned now is delivered in three buckets, Cyber 1, Cyber 2 and Cyber 3. The Cyber 3 piece would include a hands-on internship experience so the learners can apply the skills they learn in real-life settings. Learners at all levels can test for the Security+ Certification as well. We want to expose more learners to cybersecurity because it's a growing field, and to give them more opportunity to see what it's about. (continued on next page )
Read more about this state requirement.
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