Change the Equation on Bridging the Computer Science Access Gap

Change the Equation works with schools, communities, and state governments to implement policies and programs to ensure all children and young adults are STEM literate (Change the Equation, n.d.a).

Their article, New Data: Bridging the Computer Science Access Gap elegantly discusses how just a fraction of high school seniors have taken a computer programming class, even though many would like to (Change the Equation, n.d.b). Change the Equation goes on to discuss how minorities, low-income students, and students living in rural areas are at the greatest disadvantage and have the least access to computer science education. So while 49% of higher income high school kids had access to computer science courses, that percentage was just 35% for low-income high school kids!

The gap in computer science education is also clear when race is accounting for race differences. For example, according to Change the Equation, 59% of Asians, 54% of Whites, 43% of Latinos, 34% of Blacks, and 22% of Native Americans had access to computer science classes in high school.

What is Change the Equation's solution to bridging the gap? Simple. Require all schools to offer computer science classes (Change the Equation, n.d.b).

References

Change the Equation. (n.d.a). About change the equation. Retrieved from http://changetheequation.org/about-change-equation

Change the Equation. (n.d.b). New data: Bridging the computer science access gap. Retrieved from http://changetheequation.org/new-data-bridging-computer-science-access-gap