Dive Brief:
- Fourteen states now require schools to accept computer science courses to fill graduation requirements in math, science or foreign language.
- Each state has taken its own approach. Georgia, for example, only has the option to fulfill the fourth mandated science credit with AP computer science and South Carolina allows any computer science course to fill a math graduation requirement.
- Not every state looking to increase computer science skills has mandated the practice. Arizona and California, for example, allow computer science to be accepted, but don't require it.
Dive Insight:
The states' policy changes are in part a response to the growing sense that America is creating jobs requiring computer skills faster than it’s training the people to fill them. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects nearly one million more computer industry design jobs by 2022, a jump of nearly 40 percent since 2012. Despite the advances of those fourteen states, the number of students required to take computer science, rather than other course offerings, remains low. And female and minority students still remain poorly represented both in computer science classes and in the computer science field in general.
