One of the best stories in America today
The state of computer science education, & Code.org’s 2016 Annual Report
At a time of controversy and division, I want to share one of the best stories in America today — a story about teachers and educators, from rural Idaho to downtown Chicago, from single classrooms to the largest school districts.
This is the story of Renee Coley, a middle school teacher in Ohio who just started teaching computer science despite having no background in it, and she calls it an “incredible experience.” It’s the story of Justin Feller, who began teaching high school computer science in Florida, and says “We need more of this. Education needs more of this.” His students are telling all their friends to take his class. And it’s the story of hundreds of thousands of teachers like them, who are together changing the face of education, not only in America, but around the world.
Today we share our 2016 annual report, with amazing graphs of this movement’s impact. Almost all our numbers are double what they were a year ago.
It’s been three and a half years since Code.org hired our first employee. During this short time, 11 countries, 31 U.S. states, and over 120 U.S. cities and school districts have announced efforts to expand access to computer science as part of the K-12 curriculum; the new AP Computer Science Principles course has launched in over 2,000 classrooms; over 50,000 U.S. teachers have attended workshops to begin teaching computer science; over 500,000 teachers globally have begun teaching computer science classes to over 16 million students; diversity in computer science classrooms has improved for two years in a row; the Hour of Code has surpassed 350 million served — reaching one out of every 10 students on the planet and breaking stereotypes about coding; and 8 Presidents and Prime Ministers have hosted events to inspire millions more to join this teacher-powered movement.
Code.org’s classrooms alone are poised to double enrollment by underrepresented minorities in the AP Computer Science program, nationwide, in just one year!
To be clear, all this isn’t the work of Code.org alone. We’ve had the support of hundreds of partners, and hundreds of thousands of educators, globally. Many of them began this work years before we even existed. The international momentum is led by partners who share our mission in other countries. And in the U.S., this movement has had the bipartisan support of the federal government as well as most state governments. Our largest donors — Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Infosys, and Omidyar Network — deserve special recognition for funding not only Code.org but also the other nonprofits working towards the same goal, globally. We are thankful for all the efforts that share our mission.
Obama’s CS for All, and what’s after?
In 2016, the computer science movement got a boost of support from President Obama’s CS for All proposal. Although the proposed funding never panned out, the White House amplified and celebrated the work of the computer science community, and President Obama’s personal support for Code.org has been invaluable to the movement’s international growth. Local efforts such as CS4RI, CS4NH, CS4TX have now sprung up in response and will serve as new rallying cries for the movement, which will continue to grow, undeterred.
Education in the United States has always been local. Our grassroots support couldn’t be stronger, with 500,000 teachers who teach Code.org courses in every grade and in every city, and 20% of all U.S. students registered on our coding platform, Code Studio.
When we launched Code.org in 2013, it seemed impossible to change the entire education system. Although we still have a long way to go, 2016 was yet another record year, and the support we’ve seen from teachers, administrators, partners, and governments make us more confident than ever in our ability to realize our vision — that every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer science.
“I’ve never seen a nonprofit have an impact as large as this, in a timeframe as short as this. Just incredible.”
-Charles Best, Founder & CEO, DonorsChoose.org
Doubling your impact, in one year
Whether you’ve signed our petition, supported us with a donation, followed us on Facebook or on Twitter, volunteered in a school, tried an Hour of Code, or taught our courses in a classroom, you’ve been part of growing the biggest teacher-powered movement in world education. Our work wouldn’t be possible without your support. Our story is your story. Please share it.
I especially want to thank all of our generous donors. We’ve doubled your impact since a year ago, I hope you consider renewing your gift to Code.org so we can double your impact again.
Thank you,
Hadi Partovi, Code.org
