Source: U.S. News & World Report
As schools are placing an increasing emphasis on preparing students for work in the 21st century, it seems like a given that students would get credit for STEM courses. But in half of states across the country, computer science courses don’t count toward a math or science graduation requirement.
Organizations such as Code.org, the Computer Science Teachers Association and Microsoft have been advocating for more states to pass policies allowing computer science courses to count toward high school math and science graduation requirements. And in just one year, the number of states doing so has roughly doubled – 25 states and the District of Columbia make it count. But there’s still a long way to go, as most schools nationwide don’t offer computer science classes, whether due to financial or logistical struggles, or a lack of resources for teachers.
“One thing all the companies agree on in the [information technology] space is the need for more computer science degrees,” said Fred Humphries, Microsoft vice president of government affairs, during a recent panel discussion in Washington. “The fact of the matter is if you’re going to have the job of the future, you better have some type of background in computer science.”
Data compiled by Code.org show that at current rates, the country will have 1 million more computer science jobs than students with computer science degrees by 2020. Jobs in computer science on average are growing at two times the national average. In some states – such as California, Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey and New York – computing jobs are growing at more than four times the state average. Still, 90 percent of schools nationwide don’t offer computer science courses.
Typically, students can take computer science courses as electives, but they don’t count as a core course requirement for graduation, said Cameron Wilson, chief operating officer and vice president of governmental affairs for Code.org. In June 2013, the organization partnered initially with Microsoft to advocate for state-level policy changes to make sure computer science can satisfy a graduation requirement.
“That doesn’t mean schools would have to teach it. It doesn’t mean students would have to take it,” Wilson said during the panel discussion. “What it means is students would have some motivation to take it as a core course instead of an elective.”
Early in 2013, just nine states had such a policy on the books, Wilson said. Since the beginning of 2014, at least eight states – Idaho, Kentucky, Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Ohio, California and New York – have implemented new policies, according to information compiled by Code.org.
“There’s still a lot of work to be done, particularly in local control states where this needs to filter down to the local level,” Wilson said of states where such decisions are made by local school boards. “B ut I’m not aware of any other policy ever that’s spread this fast, and I’m certainly not aware of any education policy that’s spread this fast.”
Some universities and individual school districts have also taken it upon themselves to make computer science courses available. Purdue University in Indiana – a state that makes computer science count for graduation – announced in November it would offer an introductory computer science and programming course for free to Indiana high school students. Although the course would be ungraded and would not count for credit, it could prepare a student to test out of freshman programming classes at Purdue and other universities.
Chicago Public Schools are also in the process of rolling out a K-12 computer science program. In the next three years, every high school will offer a foundational computer science course, and in the next five years, at least half will also offer an Advanced Placement computer science course, the plan says.
And student interest in computer science-related fields is high. A recent report from Raytheon and the National Cyber Security Alliance found about a quarter of young adults between 18 and 26 said they were interested in a career in cybersecurity, but nearly two-thirds (64 percent) said their high school didn’t offer enough exposure to cybersecurity or computer science courses.
But increasing access to computer science courses in high school is difficult, because teachers often feel they don’t have the resources or training to teach the courses, says Deborah Seehorn, chair of the Computer Science Teachers Association board.
“There are very few places where teachers can get pedagogy classes to teach them how to teach computer science,” Seehorn says. “It’s not like teaching English or math.”
The association found in a 2013 survey of computer science teachers that 40 percent of teachers said the greatest challenge in teaching computer science is a lack of support or interest from school staff. Another 35 percent said a lack of student interest or enrollment was the greatest challenge. Rapidly changing technology and a lack of curriculum resources were cited as the greatest challenge by 30.5 percent and 23.5 percent of teachers, respectively.
Schools are sometimes discouraged from scheduling computer science courses for financial and logistical reasons, Seehorn says. Because the courses are designed for smaller class sizes – about 20 students as opposed to 35 students – schools might look to save money by not offering the courses. Logistically, schools might be busy trying to get students the required number of math or science credits that both the school and the students don’t have room to schedule a computer science course.
“I think it’s discouraging to teachers sometimes they don’t get the respect they’d like to get for teaching a core discipline. The courses are rigorous,” Seehorn says. “It combines a lot of things into one course. They’re problem solving, using critical thinking, they’re collaborating, they’re doing all those 21st century skills we want students to do. Students don’t like sitting in rows and doing worksheets. They want to be doing something, making something.”