Abstract:

The frequency and sophistication of cyberattacks continue to increase, highlighting the need for individuals with cybersecurity knowledge and skills and the demand for more cybersecurity professionals. The increasing demand for cybersecurity professionals, combined with the limited number of K-12 students exposed to cybersecurity courses and career information, highlights a challenge for local, state, and national organizations and agencies.

Although cybersecurity remains a critical topic in education and workforce development, the growth of high school cybersecurity courses has not kept pace with demand. Only a small percentage of U.S. public high schools offer cybersecurity courses, leaving fewer than 4% of students with access.

Efforts to offer high school cybersecurity courses often face barriers, including a lack of state and national standards, limited teacher preparation, age-appropriate curriculum, and insufficient Professional Development (PD). Many STEM, computer science, cybersecurity, and Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers often feel isolated within their school and district and are unable to discuss topics, resources, or share best teaching practices.

While various cybersecurity education initiatives have been introduced to create more opportunities for cybersecurity PD, most opportunities remain short, cover a broad range of topics, and do not offer long-term mentoring and interaction. Current educator PD literature highlights the importance of ongoing interaction, mentoring, resource sharing, and collaborative problem-solving for the effective implementation and sustainability of new content.

Recent recruitment for educators for the National Cybersecurity Teachers Academy (NCTA) highlights gaps in cybersecurity education PD and ongoing support structure for educators. The large number of Arizona educators applying to NCTA revealed a strong demand for cybersecurity education PD and lack of sustained support, motivating the development of a statewide cybersecurity educators’ Community of Practice (CoP).

The CoP is a statewide, teacher-driven, and replicable framework that supports teachers beyond the initial training phase and builds a sustainable professional learning community through monthly virtual meetings focused on sharing resources, experiences, best practices, and meaningful interactions. Aligned with the model of CoPs, it establishes a domain, a community, and a shared practice for cybersecurity educators.

This paper will explore:
1) the motivation for creating a statewide cybersecurity education CoP;
2) how the CoP builds on other cybersecurity education initiatives;
3) the model and delivery of the CoP; and
4) a scalable and replicable framework that can be adapted to state, regional, and national levels both domestically and internationally.

The Arizona cybersecurity educators CoP provides a scalable, sustainable approach to expanding K-12 cybersecurity education, strengthening the national cybersecurity workforce pipeline, and increasing student opportunities related to cybersecurity concepts and careers. The CoP directly addresses global educator challenges, including isolation, limited administrative awareness, access to resources, and the lack of ongoing mentorship, making this model adaptable globally. Providing a community focused on sharing resources, experiences, and best practices helps strengthen teacher confidence, instructional capacity, and curricular implementation.

Keywords:

Cybersecurity education, community of practice, professional development.