Schools Fall Behind in Offering Computer Science
Efforts Under Way on Many Fronts to Raise Status
Given the ways computer technology—from the iPhone and YouTube to uses in medical research and national security—is changing so many facets of life, you might imagine that schools have been stepping up students' exposure to computer science to help drive the digital revolution.
But recent data suggest otherwise. One survey indicates a sizable drop in the availability of even introductory computer-science courses in public and private secondary schools since 2005. Participation rates for Advanced Placement courses in computer science have been relatively flat for years, while the rates have gone way up in traditional science and mathematics disciplines, such as calculus, chemistry, and biology.
"We're an order of magnitude off from these other courses," said Janice E. Cuny, a program officer at the National Science Foundation, who argues that high-quality computer-science instruction is all too...
This article is available to subscribers only.
To keep reading this article and more, subscribe now or purchase this article.
Subscribe to Education Week and Save
Get a full year and save up to 45%!
Viewed
Emailed
Recommended
Commented
Sponsored Whitepapers
- Administrative Vacancy: Assistant Superintendent of High Schools
- Baltimore County Public Schools, Baltimore County, MD
- Senior Director for Professional Issues
- AACTE, Washington, DC
- Executive Director of Business Resources and Organizational Effectiveness
- ICCSD, Iowa City, IA
- Foreign Trainer
- Disney English, China
- Executive Director of Human Resources
- ICCSD, Iowa City, IA
