As Computer Science Education Week winds down and more than 480 million people have participated in the Hour of Code, we still know this topic is much too important to embrace for just seven days. We know that coding and other computer science literacy, particularly for historically underserved students can make a huge difference in job preparedness and opportunity.
Here are some ways you can contribute to the growth of the computer science for all movement.
Get familiar with the challenge
Computer science and other STEM education are paramount to keeping our workforce productive, yet there is a shortage of qualified talent:
- 69,025 is the number of unfilled computing jobs in California.
- 71% of new STEM jobs are in computing, yet only…
- 8% of STEM graduates obtain degrees in computer science. Meanwhile…
- 64% of MESA high school grads enter as STEM majors and…
- 97% of MESA community college students transfer as STEM majors
Support computer science education policy
Governor Brown signed AB 2329 that plans for expansion of CS education for all public school students beginning as early as kindergarten. California Department of Education is currently developing its K-12 2018 Computer Science Standards.
Get your code on
There are increasing resources for learning to code at all age levels and in many languages. For example, a partnership with Oracle Academy provides professional development training to MESA educators who teach coding in middle and high school.
Support STEM programs like MESA
Computer science literacy is a key tenant of MESA’s approach to creating the future technical workforce California and the nation need. Each year, MESA touches the lives of more than 25,000 students. Our students use coding and computer science to relate real world problems with what they learn in the classroom. Computer science curriculum i a key tenant to MESA’s success.
Most of those students are or will be the first in their families to attend college, and will go on to be the computer scientists, astronauts and engineers of the future. Find out how you can change the future of STEM today and contribute to computer science education for all movement.