On January 30, President Obama unveiled his "Computer Science for All" Initiative, an effort to bring students across the country up to speed on the skills needed for college and career success.
According to the White House announcement, the government will provide $4 billion in funding for states, and $100 million directly for districts to improve K-12 computer science education by "training teachers, expanding access to high-quality instructional materials, and building effective regional partnerships."
Additionally, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) have pledged $135 million in investments to support and train computer science teachers. The NSF and CNCS will make these investments over the next five years.
The President also called for more politicians, educators and technologists to get involved in efforts to teach students about computer science, highlighting the existing efforts of states and organizations like Cartoon Network and Code.org.
Andrew Coy, Senior Advisor for Making to the Office of Science and Technology Policy, says that these federal efforts couldn't come soon enough. "There are currently 600,000 unfulfilled tech jobs—10,000 of which are in the government," Coy shared. "We've hit a tipping point where this, coding, is now a fundamental literacy."
Interested in learning more? Check out the full fact sheet here.
