The week of December 8, 2014 is Computer Science Education Week. This is a time where thirty middle school students from Newark, NJ and Brooklyn, NY were invited to the White House by President Obama. It was an opportunity to join in on an Hour of Code, where they learned computer programming basics through effective online tutorials suitable for learners of all ages.
Since last year, President Obama has been encouraging communities to raise their support for computer science education in schools for students in grades K-12. He released a call to educators, businesses, and non-profit organizations to aid in this effort. In America, technology skills are growing in importance and it is key that young students are apart of and well trained for this age.
The Obama Administration is introducing new ways to expand student access to computer science education. First, over sixty school districts are going to offer computer science courses. These districts have access to over four million students. Next, $20 million is going toward training 35,000 teachers to be equipped to lead computer science courses by 2016. The College Board will also begin to offer a new Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science course with partners Teach For America and the National Math and Science Initiative. Lastly, more efforts will be placed toward increasing the participation in computer science by women and under-represented persons.
Changes instituted by President Obama are necessary because more than half of all jobs in the areas of science, math, and technology are likely to be tied to computer science. Today, most K-12 schools don’t offer courses for this future trend. Therefore, it is important to prepare the students of today for tomorrow’s challenges. Find out more information on the White House Event here.
