Dive Brief:
- According to reporting by the Sacramento Bee, the majority of California’s public high schools don’t offer dedicated computer science or computer programming courses.
- In the 2014-2015 academic year, out of 2 million California public high school students, just 35,000 were enrolled in computer programming or computer science courses statewide.
- At the same time, some California districts like San Francisco have been viewed as a national leader when it comes to incorporating computer science in the classroom, with plans for students as young as four to learn about coding.
Dive Insight:
California's computer science problem may come down to one word for schools: money. Although plans like the one in San Francisco, which aims to become the first large urban school district in the country to promise to expose students to computer science from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, are lofty, much attention needs to be paid to the practical side of the equation: funding. Right now, in San Francisco’s 18 high schools, just 10 offer computer science.
An August 2015 Gallup poll underwritten by Google showed 90% of parents think having their children learn computer science is a good use of time, and 66% believe coding should be a mandatory subject, but at the same time, a reported 75% of principals said their schools didn't offer any computer science, coding or programming classes.
One solution can be public-private partnerships. Corporations like Microsoft, which sponsors a $75 million YouthSpark initiative, and nonprofits like Code.org have partnered with schools to boost CS buy-in and incorporation.
