Only slightly more than half of U.S. schools offer computer science, and even fewer elementary and middle school do. Nationwide, just 6 percent of students take computer science courses.
But in Long Island鈥檚 Mineola school district, just outside of New York City, coding lessons begin as early as prekindergarten. They continue through elementary and middle school, and are incorporated into language arts, social science, and other classes.
In high school, every 9th grader must take Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles. The College Board, which operates the AP program, is not aware of any other district in the country with that requirement, a spokesperson for the organization said.
Not every student loves the requirement, but having a compulsory computer science class ensures that a broad range of students gets experience with the subject, district educators say. 69传媒 of color, girls, and students from low-income families are woefully underrepresented in computer science courses nationally, research shows.
鈥淚 really feel like it鈥檚 an equity issue,鈥� Kuri DiFede, a computer science teacher at Mineola High School, said during a recent online Education Week K-12 Essentials Forum. 鈥淣ot every student grows up thinking that they can be a computer scientist, they don鈥檛 necessarily have the role models. Maybe it鈥檚 a career that their parents didn鈥檛 even know about.鈥�
To be sure, the district doesn鈥檛 expect every student to grow up and pursue a career in computer science. But even those who will end up in other professions can benefit from the life lessons embedded in coding, Michael Nagler, the district superintendent, said.
Even a 鈥済ood coder fails most of the time,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o the notion that you have to make mistakes in order to to get better and to progress is [an] overarching theme in our district. We welcome mistakes and we say we welcome failure. We use the mantra of failure without defeat. It鈥檚 purposeful.鈥�
Watch the video of the full panel discussion above.
