Computer Science and Information Technology Cluster: Cybersecurity Pathway
Core Code Alignment
CTE / Information Technology
Systems Engineering
35020000038: Computer Science Applications
Systems Engineering
35020000038: Computer Science Applications
Recommendation
Reviewed, Not Recommended
Evaluation
The material reviewed lacked significant engagement and assessment tools to enable meaningful growth in students towards the Cybersecurity pathway. One textbook, "Pathway to Career Success", was neither focused on cybersecurity or computer science, but instead focused on developing students to be successful in getting a career. The other two textbooks, "Computer Science: A Problem-Solving Approach" and "Fundamentals of Computer Science", were a little too simplified and lacked any significant content relating to cybersecurity. The non-text content in the "Pathways to Career Success" textbook did not appear to be relevant to the content being discussed. However, the non-text content in the other two textbooks was slightly better. See individual narratives for more information.
Educators Using These Materials
No educators found.
Material Categories
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Rubric : Career and Technical Education 2025
Compliance with State Law (Required)
| Item | 3 - Extensive | 2 - Adequate | 1 - Inadequate | 0 - None | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Sensitive Materials and Prohibited Submission 53G-10-103, R277-628 | NA | Does Not Violate Law | NA | May Violate Law | ||
| Does Not Violate Law | ||||||
| Prohibited discriminatory practices 53G-2-103-5, 53B-1-118 and 67-27-107 | NA | Does Not Violate Law | NA | May Violate Law | ||
| Does Not Violate Law | ||||||
| Maintaining constitutional freedom in the public schools. 53G-10-202 | NA | Does Not Violate Law | NA | May Violate Law | ||
| Does Not Violate Law | ||||||
Content
| Item | 3 - Extensive | 2 - Adequate | 1 - Inadequate | 0 - None | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Assessment Tools | The material provides numerous, quality assessment tools for students, including reflective questions, activities, and application of skills. | The material provides some assessment tools for students, such as including reflective questions, activities, or application of skills. | The material provides minimal assessment tools for students including very little reflective questions, activities, or application of skills. | The material does not provide assessment tools for students. | ||
| The Pathways to Career Success material includes an online portal where you can complete pretests, posttests, reading assignments, and other activities which are created by the instructor. The assignments would need to be created by the teacher since the assignments are not built into the textbook. There are minimal relevant reflective questions for students while they read through the textbook and little to no hands-on activities to speak of. The "Fundamentals of Computer Science" and "Computer Science: A Problem Solving Approach" textbooks have more assessment tools but they are not very engaging for students. Students are given "Checkpoint" questions in each section and a chapter review at the end of each chapter. However, these two textbooks don't appear to have the same online resource that the "Pathways to Career Success" textbook has. | ||||||
| 2. Teacher Resources & Training | The material provides quality teacher resources, including questioning strategies, activity ideas, evaluation tools, and differentiation strategies. | The material provides some teacher resources, including questioning strategies, activity ideas, evaluation tools, or differentiation strategies. | The material provides minimal teacher resources, including very little questioning strategies, activity ideas, evaluation tools, or differentiation strategies. | The material does not provide teacher resources. | ||
| The "Pathways to Career Success" textbook is the only resource that has an online portal to assist in guiding student learning. Reading through it though the material seems to be very surface level. The other two textbooks do not appear to have the same online resources. The navigation in all of the textbooks is clunky with some of the pages being very short where no scrolling is required, while other pages have a lot of text and require scrolling to read all of the text. Having to jump back and forth between scrolling and clicking on the arrows to advance through the textbook is tedious. The online portal for the "Pathways to Career Success" textbook is easier to navigate but it is still clunkier than other online portals that I have used (such as Canvas). | ||||||
| 3. Ethnic Studies (Ethnic studies in core standards and curriculum should be a narrowly tailored incorporation of age-appropriate opportunities that naturally arise through education without pretextual effort in courses, programs, or activities where ethnic studies is not a primary focus. The material should incorporate curriculum of people and cultures that reflect the state’s various demographics without commentary that seeks to violate the neutrality standard established in codes: 53B-1-118, 53G-2-103, 53G-2-104, 53G-2-105, 67-27-107, | In addition to the content outlined in “Adequate,” this material offers multiple evidence-based supplemental resources and opportunities for learning about various forms of cultural philosophies and epistemologies from Utah, the United States, and worldwide. The materials provide cultural backgrounds, contemporary real-life experiences, and contexts that are relevant to local students. Some examples may include people with disabilities, various body types, and ages. | This material demonstrates respect for diverse socio-cultural identities. The material provides opportunities to acknowledge and integrate the histories, cultures, contributions, and perspectives of people from the United States and worldwide. The material accurately represents the cultures, languages, traditions, beliefs, values, and customs of people from diverse backgrounds through a variety of texts, examples, scenarios, imagery, and applications. | The material has limited themes of social and cultural histories within the United States and globally. The material provides limited examples of inclusive or cultural real-life experiences and does not include diverse characters. | The material does not meet the requirements within the ethnic studies core standards and curriculum requirements. (53E-4-204.1). | ||
| Although most, if not all, of the images included in the material are stock images, they depict individuals and groups of people with diverse social and cultural histories. The images are representative and respectful to a variety of cultures. The textbook, "Pathways to Career Success" has a section that discusses diversity in the workforce and other sections which have themes of social and cultural considerations, but the other two textbooks are more technical in nature and do not share these same themes. | ||||||
| 4. Shared Values and Character Traits | The material extends beyond the content outlined in "Adequate", it includes elements that connect Utahns to the world. The material offers multiple evidence-based supplemental resources and opportunities for cultivating character traits in students. The material offers multiple evidence-based supplemental resources and opportunities for cultivating character traits in students. Some examples may include characters with a variety of personalities, education, income, occupation, or behaviors that illustrate character traits. | The material focuses on the shared values of diverse people and communities, the common elements that unite Utahns, and displays some character traits in its imagery and content. It aims to cultivate character traits in students, such as courage, leadership, intelligence, integrity, honesty, respect, morality, civility, duty, honor, and service, along with principles found in the Constitution. | The material lacks a sense of shared values or common elements that unite Utahns. Furthermore, the material has limited resources addressing civic and character education. | The material does not meet the requirements within the ethnic studies core standards and curriculum requirements (53E-4-204.1) and civic and character education. (53G-10-204) | ||
| The "Pathways to Career Success" textbook does a good job at discussing shared values and common elements that unite us as human beings but this is the only textbook where those themes are present. The other two textbooks focus on developing technical skills for the workplace with limited to no focus on shared values or common elements that unite Utahns. None of the materials directly focuses on Utahns and are more written for a general audience. | ||||||
| 5. Utah CTE Course Standards Alignment | The material provides adequate preparation of skills through quality examples, explanations, and online resources of the content. | The material provides some preparation of skills through some examples, explanations, or online resources of the content. | The material provides minimal preparation of skills through minimal examples, explanations, or online resources of the content. | The material does not provide preparation of skills through examples, explanations, or online resources of the content. | ||
| The provider included a Standard correlation documentation for each of the materials that were submitted for review. The "Pathways to Career Success" text book was tied to the Strands and Standards for College and Career Awareness (CCA), the "Computer Science: A Problem-Solving Approach" textbook was tied to the Strands and Standards for Computer Science Principles, and the "Fundamentals of Computer Science" textbook was tied to the Strands and Standards for Computer Science Investigations. Each correlation document contained page numbers for where each strand and standard were addressed within the textbook, however, this seems a little more surface level than I would have expected when teaching out of the textbook. I can see some relevance with the standards but it is minimal. The content available for review is very superficial and lacks any valuable substance worth teaching students beyond covering basic vocabulary and concepts. | ||||||
| 6. Engagement | The material is engaging by appealing to student interest through interactive and performance-based activities and content. | The material provides some engagement to student interest through some interactive or performance-based activities and content. | The material provides minimal engagement to student interest and includes minimal interactive or performance-based activities. | The material does not provide engagement to student interest through use of interactive or performance-based activities. | ||
| The materials include routine questions to try and engage students while moving through the content. Some questions are asked and then immediately answered, while other questions are presented in "checkpoint" activities where students are expected to stop and review what they have learned. There is a chapter review at the end of each chapter consisting of multiple choice questions, true/false questions, short answer questions, and a few exercises which direct students to complete a task but provided no resources or guidance to assist the student in completing the exercise. The large majority of the engagement is located in the Chapter Review. The text appears to have "Video Notes" but these were not functional during my review. The material seems to be written far below the grade level of any students that would be studying cybersecurity and as such lacks substance or anything engaging. | ||||||
| 7. Non-Text Content | The material contains authentic, relevant, applicable, and well-integrated non-text content (images, graphs, visual aids, etc.). | The material contains some authentic, relevant, applicable, integrated non-text content (images, graphs, visual aids, etc.) | The material contains minimal authentic, relevant, applicable, or integrated non-text content (images, graphs, visual aids, etc.) | The material does not contain authentic, relevant, applicable, or well-integrated non-text content (images, graphics, visual aids, etc.) | ||
| There are pictures throughout the Pathways textbook which have little to no relevance with the content being discussed. Many appear to be stock images with little to no context as to why that particular image was included. The textbooks "Computer Science: A Problem-Solving Approach" and "Fundamentals of Computer Science" have more relevant images that are referenced in the text. Many images in these textbooks have captions that relate back to the text, however, there are also some images that have little to no relevance in the overall topic of the material. While the text also refers to these pictures, there is no value gained by including them. | ||||||
Work-Based Learning
| Item | 3 - Extensive | 2 - Adequate | 1 - Inadequate | 0 - None | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Industry Alignment | The material is aligned to industry standards through the use of research-based and real-world application of relevant, current terminology and content. | The material provides some alignment to industry standards through some use of research-based and real-world application of relevant or current terminology and content. | The material provides minimal alignment to industry standards through minimal use of research-based and real-world application of relevant or current terminology and content. | The material does not provide alignment to industry standards through the use of research-based and real-world application of relevant, current terminology and content. | ||
| The Pathways textbook was relevant to steps needed to get a job in any field. The other two books are not relevant to Cybersecurity. Additionally, the content of all three textbooks can be tied to getting a career within the general computer science industry but the cluster specifically points to Cybersecurity. From what I can see, none of the material focuses on Cybersecurity or aligning with industry standards. Instead, it focuses on the really early stages of computer science and employability. One of the available sections to review lacked any technical information, and was simplified to the point that I am concerned that the other more technical sections are too conceptual and toned down to provide any industry value beyond teaching basic vocabulary. | ||||||
| 2. 21st Century & Workplace Skills | The material engages readers in the development of 21st-century and workplace skills, providing a greater depth of knowledge of the content. | The material provides some development of 21st century and workplace skills, providing some deepening of knowledge of the content. | The material provides minimal development of 21st century or workplace skills, providing minimal deepening of knowledge of the content. | The material does not provide development of 21st century or workplace skills, resulting in no deepening of knowledge of the content. | ||
| Each textbook has some degree of 21st century or workplace skills, however, most of it is very surface level/introductory. There is little to no deepening of knowledge of the content in the "Computer Science: A Problem-Solving Approach" or the "Fundamentals of Computer Science" textbooks. The "Pathways to Career Success" textbook focuses on some 21st century and workplace skills with at least minimal deepening of knowledge of the content. The Pathways textbook was relevant to steps needed to get a job in any field. The other two books are not relevant to Cybersecurity. | ||||||
Safety
| Item | 3 - Extensive | 2 - Adequate | 1 - Inadequate | 0 - None | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Lab Spaces | The material provides adequate preparation for hands-on learning experiences through the inclusion of content-related lab spaces and associated safety practices. | The material provides some preparation for hands-on learning experiences through some inclusion of content-related lab spaces or associated safety practices. | The material provides minimal preparation for hands-on learning experiences through minimal inclusion of content-related lab spaces or associated safety practices. | The material does not provide preparation for hands-on learning experiences through the inclusion of content-related lab spaces or associated safety practices. | ||
| No explicit safety guidance is provided, but activities are done in the platform and free from outside threats. I was not able to locate any lab spaces or any significant hands-on learning activities within any of the provided materials. The online portal allows for the teacher to create and assign work to students but there did not appear to be any lab work built into the content. Additionally, all hands-on work that I was able to find is entirely student driven. Students are given a task to complete but no guidance or resources to assist with completing that task. | ||||||
| 2. Lab Equipment | The material provides adequate preparation for hands-on learning experiences through the inclusion of a wide range of current and content-relevant lab equipment with associated safety practices. | The material provides some preparation for hands-on learning experiences through some inclusion of current and content-relevant lab equipment or associated safety practices. | The material provides minimal preparation for hands-on learning experiences through minimal inclusion of current and content-relevant lab equipment or associated safety practices. | The material does not provide preparation for hands-on learning experiences through the inclusion of current and content-relevant lab equipment or associated safety practices. | ||
| I was not able to locate any lab spaces or any significant hands-on learning activities within any of the provided materials. The online portal allows for the teacher to create and assign work to students but there did not appear to be any lab work built into the content. Additionally, all hands-on work that I was able to find is entirely student driven. Students are given a task to complete but no guidance or resources to assist with completing that task. The online section relating to the cyber security content is not available and I am not able to determine the instructions for the labs. | ||||||
Material Characteristics (Total Points:9)
| Item | 3 - Extensive | 2 - Adequate | 1 - Inadequate | 0 - None | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Physical Characteristics | The material goes beyond the content outlined in "Adequate" by incorporating modern, up-to-date, and relatable visuals. | In physical terms, the material is interactive and provides high-quality audio-visual and tactile experiences for all users. | The material offers limited or low-quality audio-visual and tactile experiences for students, but it is reusable. | The content either has low audio-visual quality or is not intended for reuse. | ||
| Due to the heavy use of irrelevant stock images, I do not believe that these materials would qualify as "high-quality" audio-visuals but they don't meet the level of low-quality audio-visual either. The materials were generally bland and unengaging . It is reusable but would require significant effort from the teacher to maintain student attention. The navigation was clunky and tedious to navigate. Additionally, the "Audio Notes" were not functional during my review. Rating is based solely off of the visuals and overall experience when reviewing the material. | ||||||
| 2. Technical Standards | The material surpasses the content outlined in "Adequate" by ensuring the safeguarding of student data privacy and easy installation or access without technical assistance. Furthermore, any licensing information is clearly stated in the description. | The materials meet all the requirements of federal and state laws, as well as accepted technical standards such as ISTE Standards and VPAT Compliance. Additional technical specifications and limitations, including hardware requirements, bandwidth demands, and software/web access restrictions, are clearly outlined in the description. The design of the materials allows for error-free installation or access without the need to purchase additional components. | The material is constrained by specifications that require additional materials, technical assistance, hardware, software, or infrastructure. Access to resources within the material expires after a trial period. | Student data privacy is at risk. | ||
| All standards appear to be met for providing an interface for teachers and students. No installation is needed for the materials. | ||||||
| 3. Adaptability | The material is currently relevant and adaptable for educators and students. The material can be customized for the needs of diverse learners. | Educators or students can utilize the material, but it may not be customizable for the needs of diverse learners. | The material has limited options to address adaptability for the needs of diverse learners. | The material is not suitable for different educational settings with diverse learners. | ||
| The material is customizable based solely on the teacher's familiarity with the topics being addressed. The content was overly generic and surface level, providing little room for significant growth towards the topic of Cybersecurity. All of the material appears to be geared towards a single type of learner, which would require creative thinking and flexibility on the teacher's part to adapt the content to diverse learners. The only exception being the online portal that was available with the "Pathway to Career Success" textbook. However, even this resource would require significant work on the teacher's part to adapt for divers learners. | ||||||
UTAH STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
250 East 500 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84111-3204
Phone: 801.538.7807