The National Computer Science for All Movement Grows, CSforALL Community Announces 250+ New Education Efforts

CSforALL Announces New Commitments from Schools, Cities, Nonprofits, and Companies to Expand Computer Science Education

Salt Lake City, UT, Tuesday, October 22, 2019 — Access to computer science has never been more crucial to preparing U.S. students for the future, and the systems in place to expand that access is getting a huge boost today. CSforALL announced today more than 250 new commitments from 171 organization to advance computer science education access and opportunity for youth across the United States at the 3rd annual CSforALL Summit.

#CSforALL commitments are new, specific, and measurable actions aimed at advancing the goal of rigorous and inclusive computer science education for all US youth, and are designed to grow support and momentum for a sustainable K-12 computer science education system in and out of school. Notably 21 organizations listed below have made a #CSforALL commitment annually since 2017. To continue the trend, in 2019 66 organizations have returned to make a commitment at least twice. The commitments detailed below include investments in 25 individual states, and 77 commitments with a nationwide focus.

A summary of the announcements being made today include:

• More than 60 school districts across the country announced efforts to increase access to computer science initiatives for their students and/or offer professional development to their teachers, and a number of organizations — including Project>Login, BootUp PD, BATEC, and UMass Boston — will work with more than 100 additional school districts to improve CS access and quality.
• 20 new commitments focus on improving gender parity and inspiring more girls to pursue computer science, including the GenderMag Project and CSforALL collaboration on gender-inclusive software design practices, Hill Air Force Base WiSE providing support for four after-school SheTech Clubs in Utah, and TechGirlz’ commitment to provide free, hands-on tech workshops for 5,000 middle school girls.
• 47 organizations committed to expanding access to computer science enrichment through investments in Out of School Time activities, ranging from robotics clubs, summer camps, and extracurricular competitions including multi-state initiatives from the Afterschool Alliance and STEM Education Coalition, and local efforts such as Mountainland Technical College code camps and web development events serving 1,100 Utah students.
• 15 organizations stepped forward to provide programming, training, and outreach explicitly designed to engage and empower parents and families to support the computer science experiences their children will have in the next year. Student engagement begins at home and organizations such as KinderCare, Kodable, CS4Philly, and Girl Scouts USA have committed to serving parents in the coming year.
• 5 colleges and education organizations have committed to work to bolster computer science education for pre-service teachers, including Utah Valley University, Georgia State University, and Project Lead The Way, addressing teacher preparation through rigorous coursework.
• Utah grew their footprint tenfold, increasing from 4 commitments in 2018 to 43 in 2019, including 16 commitments that serve rural Utah, and with 88% of Utah school districts represented and an estimated impact of nearly 200,000 individuals. Utah commitment makers include schools and districts like Juab School District, Garfield School District, statewide organizations such as USU Extension, and STEM Action Center Utah, higher educations institutions including Salt Lake Community College, University of Utah and Utah Valley University, and investments from industry including Ivanti, Goldman Sachs, and Hill Air Force Base.

A full list of the new announcements is detailed here and is available by state and region here.

This week, the 2019 CSforALL Summit will convene more than 500 advocates from around the country to celebrate progress and collaborate on ideas to make CS education even more transformative, inclusive, and essential to all students. Notable speakers include:

• Milton Chen, Senior Fellow, George Lucas Educational Foundation
• Sylvia Acevedo, CEO, Girl Scouts of the USA
• Jake Baskin, Executive Director, Computer Science Teachers Association
• Kate Maloney, Executive Director, Infosys Foundation USA
• Kumar Garg, Senior Director for Technology and Society, Schmidt Futures
• Ronald Summers, Senior Director of Policy and Implementation, NYC Department of Education
• Robert Berry, President, National Council of Teachers of Math
• Natasha Singer, Reporter, The New York Times
• Steve Daly, President and CEO, Ivanti
• Spencer Cox, Lt. Governor, Utah
• Ann Millner, Senator, Utah State Senate

A livestream of the summit plenary sessions is available at: http://live.csforall.org

About CSforALL is the national hub of the computer science for all movement with a mission to make high-quality computer science an integral part of K-12 education in the United States. Our three-pillar approach; Support Local Change, Increase Rigor and Equity, and Grow the Movement, directs our work across a national and local spectrum to provide equitable and accessible K-12 computer science education to every student. We engage with diverse stakeholders leading computer science initiatives across the nation to support and facilitate implementation of rigorous, inclusive and sustainable computer science. For more information: www.csforall.org Twitter: @CSforALL

The CSforALL Summit is the flagship community event for computer science education in the U.S. Learn more at summit.csforall.org and follow the story on Twitter, Medium, and Facebook.

Media Contact: Nadia Tronick nadia@csforall 303.815.9433