Dive Brief:

• Project Lead the Way President and CEO Vince Bertram and Verizon Foundation Director of Education Justina Nixon-Saintil argue students need long-term, high-quality learning opportunities that can’t be fulfilled by a single Hour of Code during Computer Science Education Week.
• They write for U.S. News & World Report that the Verizon Innovative Learning education initiative’s partnership with Project Lead the Way has brought computer science instruction to more than 15,000 students in 240 schools across 36 states, and the initiative overall reaches more than 220,000 students.
• The partnership provides much-needed access to computer science curriculum in schools serving large minority populations, who are underrepresented in computer science fields, and it has near parity when it comes to the gender makeup of participating students nationwide.

Dive Insight:

The Hour of Code has been an incredibly successful publicity campaign for computer science. Code.org estimates 100 million students will have participated in an Hour of Code for Computer Science Education Week, which ends Sunday. During the Hour of Code, students learn simple coding through fun, hands-on learning activities. But it is clear this is no more than an introduction to the world of computer science.

Schools have to follow up from there, however. Project Lead the Way can help schools offer a robust computer science curriculum. The College Board also offers two Advanced Placement computer science courses along with a “discoveries” course for middle school students. Getting beyond coding and learning computational thinking is critical for students who want to be successful in science, technology, engineering and math concentrations in college and in later STEM careers.