What Happened?
The federal government is supporting new initiatives to make computer sciences a priority in school curriculum. Local organizations are also hosting events to connect students to computer science resources and education opportunities.
Invest in Tech
The federal government is launching new commitments to help schools across the country increase access to computer science education to better equipment students with the skills needed to keep local state and national economies competitive. The programs include:
- More than 60 school districts are committing to offer computer science courses to their students. This promise will provide more than 4 million students with computer science resources from Code.org. Currently, computer science courses do not count toward high school graduation math or science requirements in 25 states.
- More than $20 million in philanthropic contributions have been donated to train 10,000 teachers by fall 2015 and 25,000 teachers to lead computer science courses for the 2016-17 school year.
- The National Science Foundation is working with the College Board to develop a new Advanced Placement Computer Science course that focuses on real-world applications of creative computing to better engage students.
- Increased investment in computer science organizations that promote participation by women and minorities such as Girls Who Code.
The National Science Foundation is helping organizations, schools and communities launch programs focused on technology education and hands-on experiences. One of the more recent initiatives funded by the NSF is CompuGirls which is designed to connect teenage girls to the experiences in the technology field outside of the classroom. The organization offers courses on different aspects of technology such as digital storytelling, coding and virtual reality.
The Hour of Code
Another initiative to spur interest and education in technology is The Hour of Code, a one-hour introduction to computer science that simplifies the basics of computer coding for students of any level. The Hour of Code spread across the globe and engaged students with vital technology resources during Computer Science Education Week.
Schools, community organizations, nonprofits and entities in the private sector planned Hour of Code events that featured the brief tutorials via smartphones, computers and tablets. The main goal of the week-long event is to introduce technology to students at a young age, as well as engage more young women with technology education to increase diversity in the workforce.
Last year’s Hour of Code event reached 15 million global users within five days. The tutorials reported back 100 percent engagement, and more than 10 million girls worldwide participated in the event.
To date, just under 4 billion lines of code have been written by about 72 million students participating in the Hour of Code event. This year’s event was kicked off by President Obama learning to code alongside students.
The Need
According to Code.org, jobs in computer science are growing two times the national average and there are not enough computer science students currently to fill this demand. An estimated 1.4 million computing jobs will be available by 2020, with only 400,000 computer science students in training. This leaves a $500 billion untapped opportunity for individuals and cities to take advantage of.
Although computer science jobs are well-paid, the population of these professionals lacks diversity. By increasing access to computer science tools and courses, more minorities and women may be engaged in the industry. Currently, women earn 57 percent of all bachelor’s degrees but just 15 percent are in computer science. Similarly, only 8 percent are Hispanic Americans or African Americans work in computer science professions.
Next Level Schooling
Gov1 has followed the latest trends in school funding opportunities designed to align academic programs with the workforce demands in key growth industries.