Faced with a desperate skills shortage, tech leaders plead for computer science reform in schools

Abstraction: 600+ tech leaders urge K-12 US computer science curriculum expansion

Key points:

• Over 600 leaders from nonprofits, universities, and companies (Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Meta, Alphabet, etc.) plus 50 US governors signed a letter supporting K-12 CS curriculum reform
• Code.org, founded in 2013 by Hadi and Ali Partovi, has served 70 million students and 2 million teachers; partners run the annual Hour of Code in 45+ languages
• Only 5% of US high school students study computer science; 51% of schools offer CS (up from 35% in 2018)
• 700,000 open computing jobs vs. only 80,000 CS graduates annually — a severe supply-demand gap
• Hispanic students, English language learners, students with disabilities, and economically disadvantaged students are underrepresented in HS CS relative to their state populations
• Pandemic-era laptop funding reached 90% of students, providing infrastructure for broadening access

Connections: Code Org · Amazon · Microsoft · Google · Computer Science Education · AI Workforce

Source: https://www.zdnet.com/education/computers-tech/tech-leaders-call-for-more-computer-science-opportunities-in-schools/