In February, California Assembly bill AB2097 included Computer Science graduation requirements for CA high school students. By May the same bill was amended to require "adopt(ion of) a plan... to offer at least one course in computer science in each of its high schools in accordance with a specified timeline" by 2026.
Quite a collapse. A defeat. A failure. A fizzle. A non-accomplishment.
California legislators worked together to require Ethnic Studies for graduation. I support Ethnic Studies. Computer Science graduation requirements, however, would actually improve the lives of socioeconomically disadvantaged students, females, and persons of color along with everybody else.
To add insult to injury, the bill requires collecting more data on how many females, disadvantaged, and persons of color we are continuing to underserve with California computer science education. We know how bad the problem is. See below.
- CA put computer science standards in place since 2018.
- AB2097 as originally written (pre-gutting) would have made computer science a California high school graduation requirement.... in 2031.
- Districts and schools would have had seven years to implement computer science class for each high school student (from the original version of AB2097.) 2031 - 2024 = 7
- Districts and schools would have had thirteen years from computer science standards adoption to implement computer science for each high school student (from the original version of AB2097.) 2031 - 2018 = 13
- Thirteen years was apparently too fast. The bill went to the CA state senate last week, and between February and May it was amended to remove all language about graduation requirements. April Fools indeed!
- The bill was renamed from "Pupil instruction: high schools: computer science courses: graduation requirements" to "Pupil instruction: high schools: computer science courses: implementation guide."
More Facts (from the bill itself):
- In 2020, there were only 9,339 graduates in computer science in California.
- There are over 45,000 open computing jobs in California, the highest number in the nation.
- Computer Science graduates earn an average salary of $153,544.
- Over 1/2 of high schools in California do not offer a single course in computer science.
- 1 out of 20 high school students in California are enrolled in a computer science course.
- 1/3 of schools serving high proportions of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Pacific Islander students offer computer science courses, compared to over 1/2 of schools serving a greater proportion of White and Asian students.
- Female students make up 1/2 of our high school population, but represent less than 1/3 of students taking computer science courses.
- Schools serving low-income communities are three times less likely to offer core computer science courses than schools serving high-income communities.
- California is behind the national average, and 40 other states, in the percentage of high schools offering at least one computer science course.
This is indeed shameful, and is no way for a progressive state with the most tech jobs in the nation to behave.
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Home Loan Advisor at California Financial and Real Estate
5 个月Absolutely insane. My son is a senior at Cal State Long Beach majoring in finance. He wishes he had gone the computer science route, because his professors are telling the students that many of their jobs will be replaced by AI. Computer science classes should be mandatory in elementary. high school, and college.
Aspiring cybersecurity analyst. Eager learner
9 个月I agree!
Vice President, Construction Claims
9 个月Sad. Well written article, Will.