San Francisco USD Expands Computer Science Initiatives
San Francisco Unified School District
(SFUSD) has received an additional $6 million in funding from the Salesforce Foundation to expand
the district's computer science curriculum and technology resources.
This is the third year of the partnership between San Francisco USD and the
Salesforce Foundation, which has now provided the district with nearly $14
million in grants. The district expects the new funding to affect more than
12,500 students through a number of initiatives, which include:
- Piloting a daily computer science curriculum in the district's middle
schools;
- Expanding the Principal's Innovation Fund by granting $100,000 to 21
SFUSD middle schools;
- Funding 14 full-time math and technology coaches and teachers in middle
schools;
- Funding five full-time staff members to assist teachers and implement
curriculum;
- Partnering with Common
Sense, a national nonprofit organization that offers a digital literacy
and citizenship curriculum; and
- Partnering with Zynga.org to cohost game
design workshops and provide students with hands-on technology and computer
science education.
According to Richard Carranza, superintendent of SFUSD, the funding will
provide students in the district with hands-on resources for STEM (science,
technology, engineering and math) education, as well as resources "to
accelerate our ability to expose all students — pre-kindergarten through
12th grade — to rigorous computer science and coding curriculum."
As part of the partnership, Salesforce will adopt 20 schools through the San
Francisco Education Fund and sf.citi's Circle the Schools Initiative, which
partners local technology companies with San Francisco public schools.
Salesforce employees will volunteer 10,000 hours of their time during the
2015-16 school year. The company provides its employees with six paid days per
year for volunteer work.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].