More States Making Coding A High School Graduation Requirement

As more emphasis is being placed on preparing workers suitable for the 21st-century workplace, it seems logical that some emphasis is placed on acquiring programming skills. However, in over half the states of the federation, computer science related disciplines don’t count in graduation requirements.

Microsoft has led the clamor for states making computer science courses count as high school math, and science graduation requirement and other organizations such as code.org have followed suit. In just a year, the number of states doing so has almost doubled- 25states and the District of Columbia. But we still have a long way to go as most schools don’t offer computer or programming classes not to talk of having it as a graduation requirement.

One thing which is clear is that knowledge of computer science is necessary for the 21st-century workplace and typically, computer science and basic coding skills are electives in most schools but they don’t count as a core requirement for graduation. In June 2013, code.org, the biggest computer code educational platform partnered with Microsoft to push for state-level policy changes to ensure computer science and coding skills become a graduation requirement.



Recent reports reveal that 40% of K-12 schools now offer some form of computer education with programming, a huge bump from results if 2015 although the exact nature of “computer science” in these schools is still unclear because after school programs can’t compare with a full-year rigorous course. Advanced Placement courses have however increased from 6% to 7%.

Some universities and individual school districts have however seized the initiative and have taken it upon themselves to make computer science courses available. A notable example is Purdue University in Indiana (a state that computer science counts towards graduation) announced in November of 2014 that it would offer an introductory programming and computer science course for free to high school students in Indiana. Schools in Chicago have also rolled out a K-12 computer science program which ensures that every high school offers a foundational computer science course and in the next couple of years at least half will be offering Advanced Placement computer science course.

Despite the initiative being taken by these schools, there are some restrictions to the full implementation of these ideas. A 2013 survey of computer science instructors showed that about 40% said their greatest challenge was a lack of support or interest from school staff. Another 35% cited lack of student interest as the most major challenge. A lack of curriculum and rapidly changing technology were cited as the greatest challenge by 23.5 percent and 30.5 percent of teachers respectively.

Also, schools are sometimes discouraged from scheduling computer science courses for logistical and financial reasons as most computer classes thrive on small class situations which might not be suitable for a good number of schools. Logistically, schools might be busy trying to get students the required number of science or math credits that both the school and students don’t have room for computer science and coding courses.

In making computer science mandatory for high school graduation, it’s important we don’t forget that kick-starting the process early is also crucial so programs which treat programming courses like HTML, CSS and JAVA can be infused into their K-8 programs. These programs might seem a bit advanced for most students, but there are platforms like code.org which offer step-by-step tutoring in these programming languages. Codemoji, another company with an innovative idea of replacing regular coding scripts with more familiar emojis, is also doing a great job in this regard. Beyond these companies, there are several other free coding courses and coding websites for kids which come in handy.

The new age is the age of information and being relevant requires that you understand how information works hence the premium being placed on the mastery of coding skills by the new labor force. 90% of parents want their high school students to learn computer science bit less than half of U.S. schools offer instruction on this subject. Half of the most top paying jobs require coding skills as a requirement and computing jobs are the number one source of wages for most families.

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