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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.
In related news, "Forty-seven percent of the school leaders surveyed by Education Week said they feel mild or strong pressure to expand computer science from vendors and the technology industry. That's compared with 28 percent who said they feel such pressure from parents and 23 percent from teachers."
When I RFTA, I have to wonder if the only result of this is going to primarily highlight schools in areas that cannot afford sufficient computers for training students or teachers with the skills in order to teach programming.
Even if the money is allocated, who's going to benefit the most? Microsoft and Google will probably be the biggest beneficiaries of monies allocated out to "rectify" the problem as well as give CS teachers priorities over other teacher classifications.
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You don't need to understand a lick of programming to know how to use a computer anymore, much like you don't need to be an engineer or mechanic to operate an automobile and in another decade or so you won't even need to know how to drive one as that will have been abstracted away.
What you're proposing is just basic computer literacy, which is a wholly different animal than computer science. I'd argue that such a class is probably more beneficial than trying to teach everyone to program. Perhaps people might take better steps to protect their privacy online, be better at finding information, or be less vulnerable to phishing scams.
What is the definition of CS?
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
Oh, for sure, there are schools dealing with more pressing issues. I'm just not convinced that offering C.S. as an option would steal time/resources from efforts to address those other issues. It's basically an issue of: "we can only offer a limited number of courses; what should be included and what shouldn't?" Replacing "something else" with C.S. needn't cost any more money or require hiring a dedicated C.S. teacher.
Fair enough. What would you replace? In addition, how are you sure it wouldn't require hiring a CS teacher? A good math teacher may not be able to teach CS anymore than someone who can teach CS would be able to teach math; plus you'd need to outfit and maintain a CS lab of some sort.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
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.
Because it makes us all a little poorer when people with disproportionate skill at coding end up not even considering the profession because it wasn't an option at their school and they weren't willing to start from scratch in college and play catch up.
Seriously? "Catch up" as a freshman in college? In one good CS class in college a student learns more than they will in 2 years of CS in high school. This is like those parents who think that if their kid doesn't get into the right pre-school he's doomed.
Power Supply - $2 each in bulk. Or the students can use their cell phone chargers.
SD Card for File System - $2 each in bulk for 2GB SD cards.
Keyboard - $2 each at Goodwill
Display - $5 at Goodwill, or free from Craigslist if you carry them away
Network infrastructure - How many schools don't have Wifi?
curriculum - Free from Khan Academy
When you have a poor school ...
This is mostly a myth. School spending in America is far more progressive than you think. There are state and federal programs to level funding disparities, and in most states poorer students get more funding than richer students. Schools in poor communities have big problems, but money isn't the root cause.
This was, literally, my first thought too. I am a teacher and a CSTA member. With that being said, I can not say that we teach computer science at a level that I am willing to call computer science.
I teach Computer apps and my extension activity is Hour of Code. I also teach Robotics using the Lego EV-3. I am trying to get the school to add Arduino programming to a Robotics 2 class.
I really don't think we teach computer science, as in "how it works" in the apps class at all.