When I spoke at a recent conference, I wrapped up my talk with an exercise in order to make a point about why I’m so passionate about computer science education.

I asked everyone to raise their hand if they’ve heard of Jeff Bezos. 

100% of the hands went up.  

I asked everyone to keep their hands up if they’ve heard of Elon Musk. 

Still everyone. 

Then I told them to keep their hands up if they’ve heard of David Steward. 

All but a handful of hands went down. 

David Steward is the CEO of World Wide Technology. World Wide Technology provides advanced technology solutions for the manufacturing, commercial, government and telecom sectors. He is the second richest black man in America. He was born poor in the segregated South and is now worth around $6 billion.  

He should be a household name, and yet, as everyone in that conference hall proved, he isn’t. 

When asked about his company’s success, Steward observed: “Talent is equally distributed; opportunity is not. We need to change that by inspiring and igniting untapped potential.”

Computer science education is the ticket to opportunity in the 21st century. If we want more black billionaires who innovate, create, solve complex problems and make the world a better place, then we need computer science education for all. It’s that simple.

My sister and I failed kindergarten. 

That’s how I began my keynote address in front of 300 education and tech leaders leaders on September 21 at CSEdCon. 

I opened with this story because my journey to founding a computer science-focused school began the morning our principal delivered this news to my mom. Failing kindergarten impacted the direction of my entire life in two important ways: 

First, it exposed me to the idea of school choice. Once my mom learned they planned to hold my sister and I back, she researched and worked diligently until she found another school that would better meet our needs. Every family and every scholar deserves that. In Washington, DC, students have that choice.  More than half the students who attend public school are enrolled in a public charter school that they applied to and get into through a lottery. 

Second, it forever altered the perception I had of myself. At an early age, I was told that I was not smart. A school that creates that feeling in a child isn’t a school any child should have to attend. I would never want my own children, Dylan and Duke, who are twins starting middle school, to have this experience. And if it’s not acceptable for my kids, it’s not acceptable for anyone’s kids. 

Inspired to give students a school experience that empowered – not discouraged – learning, I became an elementary school teacher in Virginia. After teaching, I spent 15 years working in various leadership roles in education, including the CEO of the Newark Charter School Fund. My family and I moved back to DC in 2016 to be closer to family, but professionally, I was not exactly sure what I would do next. And here’s where computer science enters my life:  

One day, I read an article about how innovation is changing the world economy in ways that were unimaginable a decade before. In DC, I read, there were over 10,000 vacancies for high-tech jobs in the metro area that would pay an average salary over $100k per year. These aren’t just jobs. These are careers. And they are careers that can break the cycle of poverty and build generational wealth, an opportunity many Black and Brown families have not had due to years of systemic racism and oppression.

This realization fundamentally shifted my perspective about the importance of computer science education for students–especially students from low-income families. 

So there I was – it was January 2017 – and the idea for Digital Pioneers Academy was born. In the months after that, I developed a 500 page charter application that outlined a vision for a computer science immersion school, with every student taking computer science and adopting a curriculum that emphasized computational thinking skills like problem solving, collaboration and critical thinking. 

The rest, as they say, is history.   

Not bad for a girl who failed kindergarten.

If you know anything about me, you know I believe that student culture begins with adult culture.  

For a network leader, the first day of school brings so many emotions. As I walked around our beautiful new building, I was inspired because I observed our team living our values like optimism, and creating authentic positivity and a joy of learning.  

At DPA, on day one, we expect teachers to begin teaching the curriculum and students to begin practicing habits of learning. 

So as I walked around, I was excitedly looking for three specific teacher practices and routines of learning that we emphasized throughout our 100+ hours of summer professional development.   

Speak with a strong voice. Our team communicates with confidence and clarity so that scholars know exactly what is expected of them and feel a sense of urgency to get work done. 
Give scholars the criteria for success. This means setting the bar high for excellence and not accepting “good” as good enough.  
Circulate with purpose. Scholars should be doing the hard work while the teacher is ensuring all students are on task and checking for understanding.  
It’s one thing to talk about these best practices in a summer PD session; it’s another thing to see it happening across our 22 classrooms serving 540 scholars. 

English teachers taught all sixth graders a lesson on archaeology. The teachers started the class describing archaeology and the hands-on lesson plan. They displayed six photos of archaeological sites and artifacts throughout the room, and students did a gallery walk. Students shared out what they observed and read a grade-level article about each photo. On day one!

These ideas aren’t new or revolutionary, and we still have so many areas to grow, but that doesn’t make me any less inspired by seeing our team practice the values we preach.  

Tell me about your day one or week one lesson. What are some of the habits of learning that you tried to instill in your students?

There is no job more important than teaching, but it’s a job that has become increasingly difficult. 

According to a June Gallup poll, K-12 educators feel the most burned out of any profession. Forty-four percent of teachers say they feel “always” or “very often” burned out. 

Because it’s so challenging, there is a reported mass exodus of teachers from the profession. Here in DC, there was a 22% increase in teacher resignations over the past 3 years. In Montgomery County, 1,070 teachers resigned last year.  

We are proud that 86% of our teachers are returning this year. We think our high retention is largely due to three factors: 

First, our primary retention tool is recruiting and hiring mission-aligned team members. Our teachers believe that we are changing history and that education is the social justice issue of our generation.  

Second, we treat our staff with respect. That includes everything from paying our teachers like the professionals they are to having all staff lead with kindness and candor in everyday interactions.  

Third, we actively support our staff’s mental health and emotional well-being. We do this by acknowledging, not ignoring, the fact that teachers will inevitably be tired and stressed at certain points in the year. Through our partnership with The Teaching Well, we provide our team with the social and emotional tools, skills, and space to practice mindfulness.  

All of that said, we know we don’t have it all figured out and are constantly looking for ways to improve. I’d love to hear from other educators what is helping you stay engaged and committed to the mission in your school or district. Please share below!