US Expected To Fall Short In Computer Science Education

Education Week (7/14, Robelen) reports, "National statistics indicate that computing will be one of the fastest-growing areas for employment in coming years, but experts say the US educational pipeline is expected to fall far short in producing college graduates in the field." Also, "representation of female and minority students among those studying computer science in high school and college is seen as especially low." Experts say the confusion of computer science with computer literacy is "a major hurdle." In order "to help address the apparent disconnect between supply and demand, efforts are building to increase access at the pre-collegiate level to high-quality instruction in computer science, a cross-cutting subject that includes elements of math, science, and other disciplines." Among these efforts are "a new AP course in computer science that is intended to appeal to a broader and more diverse audience than the existing course," and initiatives from companies such as Google and Microsoft.