In 1993 Astrachan joined the Duke faculty in the department of computer science as assistant professor of the practice of computer science. That fall he became the director of undergraduate studies. The first edition of
A Computer Science Tapestry: Exploring Programming and Computer Science with C++ was published in 1997 and was widely used. The second edition was published in 2000. Astrachan continued his work with the AP Computer Science Development Committee. He was part of the team developing the
AP Computer Science AB and became the chief reader on that exam. In 2008 Astrachan became the
principal investigator for the joint NSF/
College Board project to develop a new Advanced Placement (AP) course,
AP Computer Science Principles and the continuing grant to complete the development of the AP CSP exam. The new course was designed to broaden participation in computing. The first courses began in Fall 2016 and the first exam was given in May 2017. Over 50,000 students took the exam, setting a record for the largest initial AP exam participation. In 2016 the
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) awarded Astrachan its Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award for "three decades of innovative computer science pedagogy and inspirational community leadership in broadening the appeal of high school and introductory-level college computer science courses." The citation ended by quoting "Astrachan's Law" as an example of his approach to teaching: "never ask a student to use a computer to solve a problem that is more easily solved without it." ==Personal life==