How far we've come this year

It’s been two and a half years since Code.org hired our first salaried employee. We’ve been humbled to watch the landscape change in K-12 computer science (CS) over that time. This teacher-powered movement has reached hundreds of thousands of classrooms and millions of students. We’ve never been more confident in our ability to realize our vision - that every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer science.

"I feel that I'm a part of spreading something big. This is going to make the future." — Nicholas G. (teacher)

Although only 25% of U.S. schools teach computer science and computer programming, the field is growing at a rapid pace. Enrollment in computer science is exploding. Over 10% of all U.S. students in grades K-8 registered accounts to begin coding in just the last 2 years. CS is the fastest-growing AP course of this decade. For the first time, the diversity of participating students is improving, with enrollment growth by women and students of color outpacing enrollment growth by White and Asian males.

Computer science: the fastest growing course of the 2010s

AP Computer Science is still only available in under 10% of U.S. high schools: 2,915 schools, but even that number is up from 2,137 schools three years ago (source: College Board).

Across 8M students in Code.org courses, 43% are female and 37% are black or Hispanic

Code.org’s own courses continue to grow in enrollment, especially among younger students, and with a more diverse student population compared to the average for the field.

20,000 new CS teachers trained nationwide

Over the last two years, Code.org and its partners have trained 20,000 new CS teachers (up from the 15,000 reported by USA Today in September).

The largest U.S. cities have embraced CS

In just two and a half years, over 100 school districts have decided to expand access to CS, including the seven largest school districts in the country. Chicago has pledged to make CS a high school graduation requirement. San Francisco has promised to teach it to every student in every grade. New York City has pledged to teach it in every school. Some of these large districts, such as Broward County in FL, or Charles County in MD, already teach CS in every high school.

In all of these school districts, Code.org provides curriculum and professional development to teachers, working with a fantastic team of partners, facilitators, and affiliates. Code.org can’t work with every single school district, so to provide options, we have identified curriculum and training partners ready to capitalize on the momentum behind CS.

Policy support for CS at the state and national level

In just two and a half years, community advocacy efforts led by nonprofits and corporations have resulted in policy changes across 17 states, including enabling CS to count for high school graduation credit, funding expansion of CS, and (in Arkansas) requiring schools to offer CS courses.

Additionally, over 100 K-12 and university experts have joined forces with state and local education leaders to to define a Framework for K-12 Computer Science.

At the national level, U.S. law finally recognizes CS as part of STEM education, and classifies CS in the recommended list of “well rounded education subjects”.

Internationally, in this same short time, 6 countries have announced nationwide plans to embrace computer science: the UK, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Australia, and Italy.

To read more about our progress, see these two in-depth reports:

• Code.org full 2015 Annual Report
• 2015 Hour of Code impact results

It has been an incredible two and a half years for computer science. We’re so proud of the progress that has been made thanks to the combined efforts of so many organizations, educators, parents, and students who share our vision.

Hadi Partovi and the Code.org team