CSforALL Announces Commitments from 294 Organizations to Expand US Computer Science Education Movement

Opportunities created for 47 Million K-12 Students and 246,000 Teachers in the U.S.

Detroit, MI, Tuesday, October 9, 2018 — The movement to bring computer science to all US students (#CSforALL) marked a major growth milestone today, with nearly 300 organizations announcing new commitments and initiatives to bring computer science education to all US students, both in and out of school. These new commitments will yield learning opportunities for 47 million K-12 students and 246,000 teachers in the U.S. in the form of education programs, after school and summer programs, research efforts, learning aids, accessibility tools and more.

The announcements are being made as part of the second annual CSforALL Summit held at Wayne State University in Detroit.

A sampling of the major announcements being made today include:

• 105 organizations signed the CSforALL Accessibility pledge and are committing to working to ensure that CS education tools, programs, research and initiatives are fully inclusive of students with disabilities, and accessibility is considered during the development phase for new efforts;
• Quicken Loans Community Fund, in partnership with the Detroit Public Schools Community District, is announcing investments in a district-wide blueprint for computer science education;
• Siegel Family Endowment (SFE) is unveiling a new ongoing partnership with CSforALL, in which SFE will provide a diverse suite of operating resources to support CSforALL’s national agenda;
• National Math and Science Initiative, in partnership with Bootstrap, Exploring Computer Science, MIT App Inventor, Mobile CSP, NCWIT, Project GUTS, and UTeach Computer Science is launching an evidence-based K-12 computer science pathway for schools, leveraging over a decade curriculum research and development and millions in Federal investment;
• The Digital Harbor Foundation with support from Schmidt Futures is announcing the launch of the Rec-to-Tech National Design Challenge to build a scalable model that creates maker and computer science education programs to serve youth in community recreation centers around the country;
• 22 organizations are announcing commitments to serve students and educators in Detroit and across Michigan including Brave Initiatives, Lawrence Technological University, Michigan State University, University of Michigan, West Shore ESD, and When Doves Code among others;
• Leveraging research on the influence of parents and families on student achievement in CS, STEM Next will launch The Family Engagement Project to elevate the critical role of families in supporting youth, particularly girls, to pursue and persist in STEM and CS; and today Chick Tech, Family Code Night, PBS Kids, the KISS Institute, DigiBridge, CodeCrew, Kodable and JP Morgan Chase are announcing family engagement initiatives;
• 13 Universities from 10 states (CA, IN, MI, MN, NM, NJ, NY, OH, OR, RI) have committed to creating or expanding courses for educators in university programs. These courses will prepare teachers to instruct students in computer science.

You can view the PDF of Commitments, as well as interact with a visualization to see the impact of the commitments.

Commitment Visualization

In addition to announcing commitments at the CSforALL Summit, 500 leaders gathered to celebrate the progress of the computer science for all movement nationally, and chart the path ahead. Notable speakers include:

• Dr. Luis von Ahn, founder of Duolingo and inventor of the reCAPTCHA, and recipient of the 2018 Lemelson-MIT Prize for invention;
• Actor and accessibility advocate Daryl ‘Chill’ Mitchell who portrays computer specialist Patton Plame on NCIS New Orleans;
• Megan Smith, 3rd CTO of the US and CEO of shift7;
• Superintendent of the Detroit Public Schools and Community District Dr. Nikolai Vitti;
• Dr. Marvin D. Carr, Senior Advisor for STEM and Community Engagement to the Director at the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS);
• Rhonda P. James, Senior Program Manager, Diversity & Inclusion, Intel
• Philanthropist Penred Noyce, founding chair of the STEM Next Opportunity Fund;
• Richard Culatta, CEO of the International Society for Technology in Education;
• Marlin Williams, Entrepreneur-in-residence, TechTown Detroit;
• Kumar Garg, Program Officer, Schmidt Futures;
• Provost Keith Whitfield of Wayne State University; and
• Gwynn Hughes, Program Officer, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation among others.

A livestream of the event will be available on Tuesday, October 9, 8:45 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. EST at: http://live.csforall.org

CSforALL is the national hub for the Computer Science for All movement that works to enable all students in grades K-12 to achieve computer science literacy as an integral part of their educational experience. CSforALL sets a collective agenda together with a membership of more than 500 content providers, education associations, nonprofits, researchers, and industry supporters to provide rigorous, inclusive and sustainable computer science education for all US students. Details are available at www.csforall.org.

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