Technology is interwoven into nearly every career field – education, health care, art, and finance – yet many students, especially girls and students of color, never get a chance to explore or learn the subject. In New York City, the Department of Education’s Computer Science for All (CS4All) is working to reverse this inequity.
Accessibility
Launched in 2015, CS4All ensures that every public school student, from kindergarten through high school, receives a high-quality and meaningful computer science education by 2025. Nearly 5,000 teachers in over 1,500 schools will be trained to bring computer science to their students in all five boroughs. Now in its fourth year, CS4All has already made incredible strides by training 1,600 teachers in 718 schools. Last year alone, 135,000 New York City students learned computer science, more than the number of students in most school districts in the United States.
Tech education
In classrooms across the city, students are learning how to break down complex problems to their component parts, build and program robots, code their own websites, and build apps from scratch. Students are developing skills – including collaboration, building relationships with peers, communication, and creating with technology – that are integral to their success in higher education and the future job market. More New York City students are taking and passing the AP Computer Science exam, including a 7-times increase in the number of female students passing an AP Computer Science exam since 2016, and a 9-times increase in the number of Hispanic students passing AP Computer Science since 2016.
Through Computer Science for All, we are opening New York City students’ eyes to new college and career possibilities, and better preparing them to be digital citizens of the future.
SOURCE: New York City Department of Education, Computer Science for All (CS4All), [email protected]