But meeting that goal will present major challenges, primarily in training enough teachers. There is currently no state teacher certification in computer science in New York and no pipeline of computer science teachers coming out of college.
For Flatiron School, a New York-based provider of technology training, the announcement came at a perfect time. Flatiron has been advocating for expanded teacher training in technology that can help students learn the skills required to work in the fast-growing technology sector since it was founded in 2013. And on Sept. 17, the school announced a new Computer Science Teaching Fellowship grant that will provide 500 K-12 teachers with scholarships to undergo Web and mobile development training. The goal? To bring computer science education back to their schools.
“Only one in 10 high schools currently offer computer science courses,” said Adam Enbar, co-founder and president of Flatiron School. “And that’s due in large part to a lack of qualified instructors.”
The Flatiron Computer Science Teaching Fellowship grant is therefore designed to address the chasm between computer science education nationwide and the growing demand for developers. It targets educators who are committed to bringing more comprehensive computer science education to their schools and classrooms.
“Quality education begins with outstanding teachers,” said Enbar. “It is easier to train a teacher in computer programming than it is to train a computer programmer to teach. Scholarship recipients will be uniquely positioned to bring the skills and knowledge they have acquired back to their communities and address the lack of computer science education for K-12 students.”
As part of the program, Flatiron scholarship recipients will receive more than 150 hours of specialized technical training in applied computer science fundamentals with a specific focus on Web and mobile development. They will also receive access to Flatiron School’s open source curriculum for teachers and its proprietary learning platform, and ongoing oversight and support from experienced Flatiron School instructors.
The Flatiron Computer Science Teaching Fellowship includes an online application process, though Enbar stressed that they are primarily looking for teachers who are passionate about teaching computer science.
“Applicants don’t necessarily need to have a background in computer science,” Enbar said. “We find that the teachers who do the best in the classrooms are the ones that are just incredibly passionate about this stuff. We have a staff of amazing teachers here at Flatiron School who know how to engage teachers and to find the most motivated and passionate teachers they possibly can and teach them how to code. We're looking for people who are great teachers first, regardless of whether they're math teachers or music teachers or whatever.”
The Flatiron Computer Science Teaching Fellowship is available to teachers located anywhere in the U.S., and all of the teachers that go through the training will have the ability to take Flatiron’s software curriculum back to their communities for free.
“Each year, only 13,000 college students graduate as computer science majors,” said Enbar. “Our goal is to significantly improve these numbers, and the first step in doing so is to create an army of educators who are equipped with the necessary tools and knowledge to make an impact in their communities.”
Two other major cities — Chicago and San Francisco — also recently made commitments to offer computer science to all students. Chicago pledged to make a yearlong computer science course a high school graduation requirement by 2018, and to offer computer science to at least a quarter of elementary school children by then. The San Francisco Board of Education voted in June to offer computer science from pre-kindergarten through high school, and to make it mandatory through eighth grade.
According to estimates from New York’s Department of Education, fewer than 10 percent of New York schools currently offer any form of computer science education.
Meanwhile, a recent report from Appirio and Wakefield Research found that a shortage of IT talent often prevents businesses from meeting their IT goals. The report found that 25 percent of IT projects today are abandoned as a result of a shortage of IT workers, and 90 percent of respondents to Appirio’s survey agreed that recruiting technology talent is a major business challenge.
