Congratulations to Joshua Culwell-Block, who on Friday, August 28, 2026, successfully defended his dissertation.
The title of Joshua's dissertation is, "POLICY INTO PRACTICE: A POLICY IMPLEMENTATION STUDY OF THE NEW YORK STATE COMPUTER SCIENCE AND DIGITAL FLUENCY STANDARDS."
The abstract of this study follows:
Overview of Problem: New York State adopted the Computer Science and Digital Fluency Learning Standards to address the growing importance of computational thinking, cybersecurity, and digital literacy. Although districts are expected to implement the standards across Grades K–12, the state has not established formal accountability structures or statewide assessments to monitor implementation. At the local level, responsibility may be distributed across educators, departments, and administrators without clearly defined ownership. Consequently, the extent of implementation in Grades 4–6 remains unclear.
Research Purpose: Guided by Implementation Science Theory and a Standards Implementation Framework, this study examined the implementation of the New York State Computer Science and Digital Fluency Learning Standards in Grades 4–6. It investigated changes in instructional exposure, curriculum alignment, and differences across district contexts.
Research Design: This study used a quantitative, nonexperimental ex post facto design.
Sample: The study included 55 valid responses from curriculum leaders, instructional coaches, and Grades 4–6 educators in New York State public school districts. The curriculum-alignment sample included 31 artifacts: four participant-submitted documents, 16 publicly available New York State Smart Start Grant artifacts, and 11 commercial curricula identified by respondents.
Data Collection and Analysis: Data were collected through a structured survey and curriculum documents. Descriptive statistics summarized participant and district characteristics, implementation patterns, instructional exposure, and curriculum alignment. Paired-samples ttests examined changes in reported instructional exposure before and after implementation. Curriculum documents were evaluated using a structured alignment rubric. Welch’s ANOVA examined whether changes in instructional exposure differed across New York State Education Department Need/Resource Capacity categories. Curriculum alignment could not be compared statistically across categories because too few participating districts submitted documents.
Findings/Results: Reported exposure to computational thinking and cybersecurity increased following implementation, with the strongest and most consistent increases occurring in the number of instructional weeks. Exposure remained limited, particularly for cybersecurity. Curriculum alignment was generally moderate to high and stronger for computational thinking than cybersecurity. Most instructional-exposure outcomes did not differ significantly across Need/Resource Capacity categories.
Conclusions/Implications: Standards adoption alone did not ensure comprehensive or consistent implementation. Districts need clearly assigned responsibility, sequenced curricula, curriculum maps, sustained professional learning, and processes for monitoring implementation. State agencies, BOCES, and district leaders should strengthen accountability and implementation support, particularly for cybersecurity instruction.
Dissertation Committee Chair:
Dr. Nora C. R. Broege
Dissertation Committee Members:
Dr. Gerald Ardito
Dr. Jennifer Harriton-Wilson
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