Curriculum

New York City to Require Computer Science at All Schools Within 10 Years

By Liana Loewus — September 16, 2015 1 min read
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Today, Mayor Bill de Blasio will announce a plan requiring all New York City schools to offer computer science classes within a 10-year deadline.

Two other large urban districts—Chicago and San Francisco—recently launched initiatives to bring computer science to all students. Chicago public schools will phase in computer science for kindergarten through 12th grade students over the next five years, and eventually, it will become a graduation requirement. In San Francisco, some middle schools are piloting computer science courses now, and the district will build out the program for preK-12 students over the next several years.

New York schools will spend about $81 million on the initiative in the next decade, according to The New York Times. About half of that will come from private sources, such as the the AOL Charitable Foundation, the Robin Hood Foundation, and venture capitalist Fred Wilson, who has invested in companies such as Twitter and Tumblr.

New York middle and high schools will have the choice to only offer computer science as an elective, reports the Times, and the subject will not become a graduation requirement. The city anticipates needing to train as many as 5,000 teachers in computer science to bring it to students in all grades.

Image: iStockPhoto

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A version of this news article first appeared in the Curriculum Matters blog.