Computer Science

White House Boosts CSforAll Commitments for Computer Science Education Week

• By Sri Ravipati
• 12/05/16

In honor of Computer Science Education Week 2016, the White House today announced hundreds of new commitments that support the implementation of computer science (CS) and computational thinking (CT) in K–12 education and build on President Obama’s Computer Science for All (CSforAll) initiative.

A White House fact sheet highlights new commitments from several federal agencies:

• The largest comes from the National Science Foundation, which will invest $20 million in CSforAll: Researcher Practitioner Partnerships (RPP) for FY 2017, in addition to its $25 million investment in FY 2016. The CSforAll: RPP program was created to better understand how to provide K–12 teachers with “preparation, professional development and ongoing support” that they would need to teach and integrate CS/CT into their classrooms, according to the fact sheet.
• The United States Department of Education is expanding the scale and scope of its 21st Century Community Learning Centers, a $1.1 billion formula grant program that helps students who attend high-poverty and low-performing schools to receive academic and enrichment opportunities in STEM and CS education. The 21st CCLC in 2013 provided 20 sites across three states with STEM experiences created in partnership with NASA. Now, the program is expanding to 200 sites across 25 states and will involve the National Park Service, Institute of Museum and Library Services and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in addition to NASA.
• The National Science and Technology Council will develop a “CSforAll strategic framework” to guide federal efforts for CSforAll.

In addition, more than 250 different organizations have pledged their support to CSforAll, which now has support from more than 500 organizations nationwide. State and local agencies, nonprofits and companies like Google and Intel have joined the initiative. To view the list of new organizations, visit the White House site.