Friday, September 27, 2019
Improving Indiana’s educational opportunities has been one of the top priorities of the Indiana General Assembly for many years, and the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) recently shared a new report that highlights Indiana as a national leader in computer science education.
According to the IDOE, the 2019 State of Computer Science Education report recognizes Indiana for being one of only five states in the nation to implement all nine policies of Code.org’s Advocacy Coalition, and one of only three states to significantly increase computer science education funding over the past year.
This report lays out several examples of Indiana’s commitment to computer science education, including the development of a comprehensive plan, changes in our teacher certification requirements, and the allocation of $3 million per year for computer science professional development from the 2019 state budget.
The state has also funded training for more than 1,000 K-12 educators in computer science since 2018, while continuing to expand professional development opportunities.
These increases in funding and updates to policy have helped Indiana expand computer science education in Hoosier schools.
As of the 2018-2019 school year, the report notes 62% of Indiana high schools taught at least one computer science course, up from 51% the previous school year.
Additionally, of the Indiana schools offering Advanced Placement (AP) programs, 21% had an audited AP computer science course during the 2018-2019 school year, up from 17% of the previous school year.
The reports also highlights that the number of female and minority Hoosier students taking AP computer science exams continues to increase.
Demonstrating the General Assembly’s commitment to computer science education, was the passage Senate Enrolled Act 172 in 2018, which requires each high school in Indiana to offer a computer science class to students by 2021.
SEA 172 also established Indiana’s Next Level Computer Science Grant Program and the Next Level Computer Science Fund, which awards grants to help implement professional development programs for training teachers in computer science.
The General Assembly will continue to looks for ways to increase computer science education in schools and provide young Hoosier with the skills to better prepare them for in-demand careers.
To review the report or to learn more about our state’s computer science education programming, click here.
