CodeHS Cybersecurity 1 approved for state list after commission appeal and additional evidence

Kate Oche, identified in the meeting as the director of middle school and high school curriculum for CodeHS, presented an appeal after a reviewer raised alignment concerns for a single standard in CodeHS's Cybersecurity 1 course.

Oche said the course contains a module sequence that addresses history of Internet connectivity, trade journals, networking hardware and protocols, and culminates in a research project in which students locate multiple sources, analyze reliability and create a timeline of connectivity advances from dial-up through fiber and 5G. She asked the commission to reconsider the course and provided contextual links and lesson references beyond the single activity that had been submitted as evidence in an earlier review round.

Department staff and at least one commission reviewer said the evidence initially submitted was limited to a single culminating activity; CodeHS supplied additional evidence showing that earlier lessons (module 5 lessons and module 2 work on trade journals) provide the background and instruction called for by the cited standard. The standard noted in the review was identified as C10H19.4.6 (as recorded in the review feedback).

Following discussion, a motion was made to approve CodeHS Cybersecurity 1 for inclusion on the Schedule E list and to advance the overall list to the State Board of Education. The commission conducted a roll-call vote; the motion passed with all recorded members voting in favor. CodeHS Cybersecurity 1 will be included on the next list the commission forwards to the State Board of Education for final approval.