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Code.org Is Crowdsourcing Database of US K-12 Schools That Teach, Or Don't Teach CS
Longtime reader theodp writes: Nonprofit Code.org, which is bankrolled by the likes of Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Infosys, has teamed up with the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) and is "calling on all educators and parents" to "help us build a database of all schools that teach (or don't teach) computer science" (via direct responses and email advocacy tools). Called the K-12 Computer Science Access Report, Code.org says "the database will be a resource that everyone in the CS community can use." For what purposes, however, is not entirely clear, although the Code.org Medium post indicates the database will be used by the nonprofit and the CS community to "make our shared vision [for every school to teach computer science] a reality." The post cites a 2016 study conducted by Google and Gallup -- which took principals to task for being clueless about what constituted "computer science" and misgauging parental and student demand for CS -- and goes on to add that the new database will allow the organization to "be able to report more precisely which schools do or don't offer this opportunity to their students." As far as a timeframe for the naughty-or-nice K-12 CS school database goes, Code.org reports, "our goal is to gather data for 100% of US schools by the end of 2018." In earlier posts, Code.org has thanked its partners for their help in "changing [K-12 CS] education policies in forty states" (make that 43 states!) and claimed credit for "pressing lawmakers" into unlocking Federal funding for K-12 CS with the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act.
Has anyone started a crowd sourced list for teaching plumbing or welding yet?
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
I've been a professional software developer for 30 years, and while there certainly are many cases where I've worked with or interviewed people who were lacking in computer-science skills, very little of that was because they weren't getting enough CS teaching in primary and secondary school. I mean, if you've spent 4 years in college getting a CS degree and a few years in industry working and you STILL can't keep up, adding a semester in 11th grade isn't going to help.
On the other hand, raising English communications proficiency across the board by a single grade level would have HUGE benefits for the industry. Communicating better would likely result in better technical results, too.