The Case for Improving U.S.

Computer Science Education

BY ADAMS NAGER AND ROBERT D. ATKINSON | MAY 2016

Despite the growing use of computers and software in every facet of our
It is time for computer economy, not until recently has computer science education begun to gain
science to be seen as a
traction in American school systems. The current focus on improving
core science on par
with more traditional science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in
high school science the U.S. school system has disregarded differences within STEM fields.
offerings such as Indeed, the most important STEM field for a modern economy is not
biology, chemistry,
only one that is not represented by its own initial in “STEM” but also the
and physics.
field with the fewest number of high school students taking its classes and
by far has the most room for improvement—computer science.

Since computer science became an academic discipline in the late 1960s, the level of
interest in the field and the number of students taking courses has grown in fits and starts.
Currently in an upswing, computer science education in the United States looks poised for
steady growth. However, there is the possibility that interest in the field could again wane
like it did in 2003 following the burst of the tech bubble. To maintain the field’s current
momentum, the perception of computer science (CS) needs to shift from its being
considered a fringe, elective offering or a skills-based course designed to teach basic
computer literacy or coding alone. Instead, it is time for CS to be seen as a core science on
par with more traditional high school offerings such as biology, chemistry and physics.
Furthermore, universities should capitalize on the growing interest in computer science and
expand their offerings to accommodate the growing demand for courses in the field. Not
only is computer science a powerful educational tool for fostering critical thinking,
problem solving, and creativity, computer skills and competencies are in high demand
among employers in a wide range of industries, not just the tech industry. Policy and

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program reforms are needed to support and maintain the groundswell of interest in
computer science.

To this end, policymakers should reform curricula for existing technology classes to focus
on core concepts of computer science in primary and secondary schools and provide
resources to train and recruit high-quality CS teachers. All states should allow CS to count
as either a math or science requirement, and more STEM-intensive public high schools
that give students in-depth exposure to CS should be established to allow students with the
aptitude and interest in computer science to more deeply explore the subject. Finally,
universities should be incentivized to expand their offerings in computer science and
prioritize retaining students interested in majoring, minoring, or taking courses in CS.

THE CASE FOR COMPUTER SCIENCE EDUCATION

Every academic subject, from Latin to art and from math to the humanities, has dedicated
advocates (including the teachers who teach the subjects) who believe that the U.S.
education system can be improved by dedicating more time to its study and conversely that
the system would be gravely weakened by reducing exposure to the subject. Just look at the
recent controversy President Obama ignited when he had the temerity to (rightly) say that
it was more important to teach students advanced manufacturing skills than art history; art
historians came out in force to express their righteous indignation. 1

Given that there are a limited number of hours in the academic year, not every subject-
matter advocate can be right. Choices have to be made. Not making choices and
continuing with status quo is in itself a choice. However, there is a strong argument to be
made for putting relatively more focus on computer science (CS) and featuring it in every
high school in the country.

Computer science challenges students and teaches them to approach problems in new and
rigorous ways. If taught properly, computer science courses instill creativity, critical
thinking skills, and logical reasoning. Its core concepts are broadly transferable, giving
students the ability to apply skills to myriad problems, enabling them to pursue cross-
disciplinary pursuits, and allowing them to learn about the world they live in. And, perhaps
most importantly, computer science provides computational literacy and problem-solving
skills that are desperately needed by the workforce. CS ensures that students are
competitive and adaptable in the labor market, not just for jobs in computer science, but
for many occupations that increasingly require “double-deep” skills.

Broad demand for computer science in IT professions

As technology plays a larger role in our world, growth in IT jobs has outstripped overall job
growth. The widening and deepening of demand for computer scientists have led to above-
average wages and faster wage growth in this field relative to the others. In the last decade,
IT occupations have grown by 36 percent. 2 Demand for these jobs has grown even faster,
but there are simply not enough IT professionals to meet rapidly expanding demand. This
gap between the supply and demand of IT workers is a major component of the national
STEM shortage. There are over 545,000 unfilled jobs requiring technology skills; while

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these jobs demand a diverse set of STEM skills, many are jobs requiring the ability to solve
problems with computers. 3

Figure 1: Job growth in IT and overall workforce (2005=1) 4

1.4

1.3

1.2

1.1

0.9

0.8
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

All Occupations IT Occupations

Eighty-one percent of computer science majors find jobs closely related to their fields; even
during the recession there were two openings for every unemployed IT worker, and
unemployment in computer occupations is now down to structural levels of 2.5 percent. 5

In addition, many technology workers are not counted by official statistics. One study
found that there were as many jobs using advanced technology skills in non-STEM
industries (3.8 million) as there are in STEM industries (3.9 million), and that women are
much more likely to use their technology skills in non-STEM industries. 6

In the next ten years, job growth in the IT fields included in the official statistics is
conservatively estimated to keep expanding by around 50,000 jobs per year. 7 From 2005
to 2015, however, the economy added 100,000 IT jobs annually. 8 In 2011, Code.org
projected that the economy would add 1.4 million computing jobs by 2020, but educate
just 400,000 computer science students by then. 9

In some cases, organizations may not pursue computer specialists because they know there
are none available. Instead, they decide to not utilize new technologies and processes made
possible by programmers because improvements do not make sense with labor so scarce.
Moreover, the lack of knowledge among managers often means that those in charge are
unaware of the benefits that could be brought to their organizations by computer
specialists. As in many advanced industries, supply of workers skilled in computer science
could continue to create its own demand long after the observed gap between supply and
demand is corrected. It is hard to estimate when the market could be considered saturated,
but it is clear that the United States is not near this point.

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Figure 2: Wage increases, total and in computer occupations, in 2014 dollars, 2003-2014 10
$110,000 Computer and
information systems
managers (-4.02%)
$100,000
Computer software
engineers (+5.95%)
$90,000
Database
$80,000 administrators
(+9.89%)

Computer programmers
$70,000 (+2.83%)

$60,000 Computer scientists

and systems analysts
(+7.54%)
$50,000
Computer support
specialists (+0.38%)
$40,000
Total, 16 years and
over (-0.84%)
$30,000

Not only has the economy been adding computer jobs, wages for computer and IT workers
are rising. Since 2003, real wages for U.S. occupations have decreased by 0.8 percent to an
average of $41,132, while real wages grew by 10 percent for database administrators, by 3
percent for computer programmers, and by 6 percent for software engineers. 11 And with an
average starting wage of $67,300, computer science majors make 38 percent more than the
average graduate straight out of college. 12

Broad demand for general knowledge of computer science

Demand for computer science is not consigned just to IT professions. As Ed Lazowska, the
Bill and Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science and Engineering at the University of
Washington, states: “Every field is becoming an information field, and if you can program
at a level beyond an intro course, it’s a huge value to you.” 13 Demand for computer
knowledge is ubiquitous, and transforms traditional sectors across the economy. Many
occupations, argues IT expert David Moschella, now require ‘double-deep’ skills, with
training and expertise in technology and computing in addition to the skills traditionally
demanded by these occupations. 14

In today’s technology-fueled economy, most industries rely on computer skills. 15 Two-

thirds of computer jobs are in non-technology industries, such as healthcare, banking, or
manufacturing. 16 Organizations are increasingly technology-driven and technology-
dependent. For marketers, managers, bankers, designers, accountants, and others, coding

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experience and advanced understandings of computing technology are increasingly
valuable. Professionals are learning technology and analytical skills and IT specialists are
applying their focused skills onto a wide range of practical business applications. 17
Similarly, workers in middle-skilled manufacturing jobs have a need for computer and
technology skills. Workers with advanced computer knowledge who can use their
experience to address and solve a host of problems and challenges are poised in succeed in a
wide variety of fields.

Pedagogical value of computer science

Finally, computer science teaches intangible skills such as problem solving, logic, and
critical thinking. It is also increasingly important for other STEM disciplines. Taught
rigorously, computer science can serve as an avenue allowing students to more easily gain
other science and mathematics skills. 18 Parents agree. Ninety percent of parents think that
computer science is a good use of resources at their child’s school and want their student
learning more computer science. Parents deem CS just as important as subjects like math
and English, if not more so. 19

One very useful aspect of computer science for teaching logic and reasoning is the subject’s
stepwise nature. Students writing an algorithm or line of code must address one problem at
a time to provide a set of instructions that produce the desired outcome. Decomposition
and debugging exercises teach invaluable lessons in how to reduce complex systems to
individual parts and carefully examine how each part functions as part of a whole. When
students identify potential solutions, they can run their algorithm and determine whether
or not their code works. Having to master complex thought processes makes students
better at solving problems in other subjects in much the same way that chess has been
shown to have positive effects on problem solving and learning. 20

Computer science also allows students to create models, develop hypotheses, test those
hypotheses, and revise their models. Students who learn these skills by doing, writing or
debugging code, are usually more engaged in computer science than they are in other
subjects where they are lectured and then quizzed on knowledge. 21

The U.S. Pipeline for Computer Science Expertise

The United States has three sources contributing to the base of computer science
workforce: 1) the American education system; 2) immigration, especially in the form of H-
1B visas; and 3) job-skills training programs.

Computer science graduates

At current graduation rates of 50,962 bachelor’s degrees, 22,777 master’s degrees, and
1,826 Ph.D.’s in computer science, the supply of computer-science knowledge coming out
of America’s universities is insufficient to meet growing demand. 22 (See figures 10 and 12.)

The challenge for U.S. schools is to widen the pipeline of computer science workers
entering the labor force. To accomplish this, schools need to work on generating interest in
computer science classes among a broader and more diverse group of students, improving

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 the quality of computer science classes, and expanding the number of available seats in CS
classrooms on both the high school and university level.

Many university students taking computer science classes are foreign, and may not remain
in the United States following graduation. This is especially true of graduate students. Five
percent of bachelor’s students and 49 percent of graduate students in computer science
are foreign. 23

The Optional Practical Training Program, which allows foreign STEM graduates to
remain and work in the U.S. temporarily for 29 months, is used by 45 percent of foreign
students. 24 However, many students choose to go back to their home countries, and more
are discouraged by the immigration process or are unable to get a long-term visa. While H-
1B visas can keep some of these graduates in the country temporarily, many are not
selected through the H-1B lottery selection system and must return to their countries of
origin. Twenty-three percent of foreign Ph.D. graduates in computer science leave the
country within five years of graduating. 25

At current rates, the supply of computer science workers still falls well short of the demand
There simply are not demonstrated by the current market, let alone demand expected to come.
enough H-1B visas to High-skilled immigration
satisfy demand for H-1B visas, temporary guest worker visas intended for high-skilled workers to fill positions
scarce IT talent. where the native workforce is insufficient, is the United States’ vehicle for importing IT
workers to help fill the STEM shortage.

H-1B guest workers in IT fields have significant positive impacts on the U.S. economy. 26
Research has shown that H-1B workers do not undercut or lower American wages. In fact,
wages for H-1B guest workers tend to be comparable or slightly higher than wages for
native workers. 27

Given the large gaps between supply and demand for computer knowledge, H-1B visas
concentrate in IT industries. In fact, of the ten biggest H-1B petitioners, nine are IT
Consulting or Technology firms. Occupations in Systems Analysis and Programming,
along with other computer-related occupations, accounted for 56.5 percent of all H-1B
visas awarded from 2013 to 2014. 28 However, the 85,000 annual limit on H-1B visas
reduces the effectiveness of this program in filling the skills gap for IT workers. There
simply are not enough visas to satisfy demand for scarce IT talent.

In years directly preceding and following the Great Recession, the H-1B cap, including the
cap for master’s graduates, the cap was reached in under one week. This forced U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services to use a lottery system to award visas as they could
not determine the order in which applications were received. In no year since the cap was
lowered from 195,000 to 65,000 in Fiscal Year 2004 has the cap for either foreign workers
or U.S. advanced degree holders not been reached. 29

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Table 1: Date H-1B Cap Reached, by Year (FY 2004-2016) 30

U.S. Master's or Higher Cap

Cap Reached Annual Cap (65,000)
(20,000)

2008, 2009, 2014, 2015,

In one Week 2009, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017
2016, 2017
Less than 3 Months 2007, 2013 2008, 2013
Less than 9 Months 2005, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2012 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012
Greater than 9 Months 2004

Retraining
Finally, retraining workers with new skills applicable in the new economy is essential.
President Obama’s recent “TechHire” initiative gives a boost to prospects for technology
fields, especially advanced computer skills like coding, and many companies have their own
retraining initiatives to secure a talented labor base. Initiatives like “coding boot camps”
and rigorous massive open online courses (MOOCs) have the potential to help reduce the
skills deficit, yet have three major shortcomings. 31 MOOCs for adults regressively address
problems inherent in our schools. More of the current workforce, especially younger
professionals, should have received this education in the classroom. Moreover, these courses
are typically designed to give only cursory training, and many concentrate on teaching a
single coding language rather than giving in-depth knowledge and understanding of
computing concepts. MOOCs and boot camps therefore can be useful for giving
professionals basic computing or coding skills that complement other expertise; however, a
brief coding seminar is no substitute for the years of education that an individual with a
degree in CS possesses. And finally, MOOCs tend to benefit mainly the demographic
populations already primed to succeed, and have been shown to be less effective in training
women, minorities, and low-income individuals. 32

COMPUTER SCIENCE IN THE HIGH SCHOOL

For all the reforms aimed at aiding the evolution and adoption of high school science,
actual classes offered have remained relatively static over the last century. Educators have
not integrated computer science into the standard progression of high school science
courses. However, given the demand for computer expertise in the workplace and the
pedagogical value of concepts conveyed through computer science classes, computer science
offers a powerful tool both to teach scientific thinking and to prepare students for needed
jobs. Today, numerous barriers in the American education system prevent students with
both the aptitude and interest in CS from pursuing the field at the high school level.

Establishment of the high school science status quo

High school education became commonplace for American students between 1910 and
1940, with enrollment in secondary school growing by 50 percent in the inter-war years. 33
Laws raising the age at which a student could drop out of school contributed to this rapid

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 growth, but much of the reason for the increase was the sweeping change to the economy
as agricultural jobs declined. While 41 percent of the American workforce was employed in
agriculture in 1900, by the end of the WWII that number was down to 16 percent. 34 New
demand for educated labor, increased urbanization, and greater family wealth helped fuel
demand for secondary education, and government focused on making secondary schooling
free and accessible to all.

Science education curriculum in this period was heavily influenced by a National

Education Association task force, referred to as the Committee of Ten, which decided in
1893 that biology should be the first science course taken by American high school
students, followed by chemistry and physics. The Committee aimed to standardize and
unify college entry requirements by issuing standards on what each course was to teach.
Biology, in the eyes of the Committee of Ten, should be comprised of zoology, botany,
and physiology. The Committee’s curriculum called for students to spend 60 percent of
classroom time engaged in laboratory and experiment components and stipulated that
students should make careful sketches and drawings of the specimens they were examining.
Biology class was a tool As such, biology class was a tool for students to obtain knowledge from a careful
observation of nature, which spoke to both the agrarian focus of American society at the
for students to obtain
time and a focus on teaching students to think like scientists. The Committee also
knowledge from a
designated curricula for chemistry and physics classes that would follow biology in the high
careful observation of school science hierarchy.
nature, which spoke to
The Committee of Ten’s dictates on science were revolutionary for their time and played a
both the agrarian focus
major role in early emphasis on and promotion of science. The Committee suggested that
of American society and
25 percent of class time be spent on science in American high schools, an ambitious mark
a focus on teaching for the time and one not commonly met today. 35 Furthermore, its focus on experiments
students to think like and scientific concepts over rote memorization represented an understanding of the
scientists. importance of fostering intellectual curiosity through the framework of the
scientific method.

The decision to prioritize biology as the first subject learned was not unanimous even in
1893. Several members of the committee proposed that biology come after chemistry and
physics, suggesting students learn the underlying principles of science before applying them
to the real world. Biology was ultimately selected because it was deemed the most powerful
tool to communicate the underlying principles of science to high school freshmen. In that
era, it made sense to use the natural world to teach students to communicate scientific
ideas, conduct experiments, and evaluate scientific arguments. 36

The reliance on the biology-chemistry-physics framework for American high school science
education continues to this day. Today, biology is still commonly taught in the first year of
high school (though contrary to the Committee of Tens’ intentions the course today
emphasizes rote memorization of facts and has light emphasis on rigorous labs) and is
typically followed by chemistry and physics. The decision made in the nineteenth century
still has a major impact on today’s curriculum—95.6 percent of high school students take

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biology, compared to 70.4 percent taking chemistry and just 36.1 percent taking physics. 37
Ambitious and talented students can, after completing the basic curriculum, choose to take
Advanced Placement (AP) courses building off of these basic classes. Just like in math,
advanced students are making it through more science courses than ever before. 38 However,
most students do not manage to find room in their schedules as juniors or seniors to take
computer science. 39

When computer science first emerged as a new scientific course of study in the mid-1980s,
the established trio of sciences—biology, chemistry and physics—left little room in
schedules for the new offering. While STEM as a whole has flourished as the visible need
for STEM skills in the economy has increased over the last 25 years, computer science has
been largely excluded from this growth.

Figure 3: Percentages of high school students taking courses in math and science,
1990-2009 40

100%
Biology
90%
Chemistry
80%
Physics
70%
Geometry
60%
Algebra II
50%
Pre-calculus
40%
Calculus
30%
Statistics
20%
Engineering
10%
Computer science
0%
1990 1995 2000 2005 2009

Following the launch of Sputnik in 1957, recognition of the importance of science and
math education sparked a drive to dramatically expand and improve existing STEM
education in primary and secondary schools. However, not until the 1980s did the
National Science Foundation first raise flags of warning about a future shortage of workers
adequately trained in math and science. 41 A greater attention to these subjects became a
national priority, and students began to take more math and science courses. For example,
from 1990 to 2009, the share of students taking calculus increased from 7 percent to 17
percent, and the share of students taking a class in chemistry rose from 49 percent to 70

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 percent. Meanwhile, computer science was the only math or science field to lose ground,
sinking from 25 percent of students in 1990 to 19 percent in 2009. (See figure 3.)

A proposal for education reform in 1983 from the National Commission on Excellence in
Education recommended that a half-year of computer science enter the high school science
curriculum, accompanying three years of science and three years of math as requirements
for graduation. This, however, was ignored. 42

By the late 1990s, most schools elected to use the computers they put in classrooms to
teach “technology” courses, which typically featured lessons and drills in typing and review
of basic word processing and spreadsheet software. Others added computer coding, which
is only a fraction of what a rigorous CS curriculum should entail. Unfortunately,
curriculum and standards still focus on using, rather than understanding, technology. In
fact, only 37 percent of states’ CS standards include a focus on computing concepts, while
73 percent of state CS standards include a focus on computer skills. 43 Such classes teach
computer literacy and basic skills but fail to impart the core concepts behind computer
science. Since the advent of computers in classrooms, curricula in technology classrooms
In California more have evolved slowly, and many courses still focus on these basic skills even as familiarity
high school students with computers has become nearly ubiquitous, including among young children. While 19
take ceramics than percent of students take some form of technology course, the percentage taking courses that
take computer truly qualify as CS may be lower. One analysis focusing on the state of California found
science. that only 1.8 percent of high school students are enrolled in computer science or
programming courses (another 1 percent are enrolled in some form of related course,
including game design, robotics, or engineering). In California, regarded as the epicenter of
the technology revolution, more students take ceramics than take CS. 44 Yet, there are
41,000 potters in the U.S. (making an average of just $30,000 a year) with the number
expected to decline by 2024. 45 In contrast, just one CS sub-occupation, computer system
analysts, employs 568,000 workers at an average salary of $82,710 with job growth to 2024
projected to be “much faster than average.” 46

Today, however, technology has progressed far beyond the need for these basic skills as
technology and computers plays an ever greater role in our lives and the education process.
Students develop typing and word processing skills as they complete writing assignments
for English and history classes. Students increasingly use spreadsheets in math and statistics
classes, and presentation software is ubiquitously used for in-class student presentations.
Students generally can master these programs as a requisite to complete other assignments.
Coding is a useful skill, but computing languages come and go, and may even be obsolete
before students reach the job market. Knowledge of coding is less useful for the longer term
than an understanding of what makes the code work.

High School Computer Science Today

The last study of high school transcripts completed by the National Center for Educational
Statistics in 2009 found that only 19 percent of high school seniors took some form of
computer class, down 6 percentage points from 2000. 47 Moreover, these courses revealed a

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serious gender gap, with only 14 percent of female students taking a computer course
compared to 24 percent of males. Nationally, 3,075 schools are accredited to teach
advanced placement (AP) computer science, out of 16,811 schools accredited to offer AP
exams. While this is up by 66 percent from the 2007/2008 school year, it is still only 18
percent of total schools offering APs. By contrast, 76 percent of AP accredited schools teach
AP calculus. 48 The United States needs almost 10,000 additional teachers trained to teach
computer science and provided with supportive resources in order to match access to high
quality CS to access to calculus in high schools.

The ideal course in computer science is a lot more advanced than either computer literacy
or coding. Rather, the best courses focus on underlying scientific principles, give students
experience with thinking logically through abstractions, and communicate fundamental
knowledge of how software and computing work. These classes introduce topics such as
algorithms, programming paradigms, and data structures; they teach students how to think
logically through problems, debug code, and apply knowledge to real world projects. 49

Figure 4: AP test takers in science and math by subject, 2015 50

Calculus AB
Biology
Statistics
Physics (1 and 2)
Chemistry
Calculus BC
Physics C
Computer Science

0 75,000 150,000 225,000 300,000

Males Females

As early technology was adopted, some classes developed to teach more advanced concepts
to high school students. Specifically, the Advanced Placement (AP) exam teaches basic
principles of computer science, including coding and core concepts behind how computers
actually work. First introduced in 1984, the AP CS exam tested students on the Pascal
programming language, then C++ from (2000 to 2003), and now tests based on Java
(2003-present). However, interest and enrollment in the class has stayed static for much of
its 30-year history. In fact, enrollment declined by over 5 percent from 2001 to 2011, and
from 1990 to 2011 steadily declined as a percentage of total AP exams, excluding the spike
in 1999 likely caused by both the tech bubble and the switch to C++. 51 In 2006, 28
percent of students taking an AP computer science course opted to take the more difficult
CS AB test, which required more in-depth knowledge of data structures and algorithms.
However, the AB test was discontinued in 2009 due to low numbers of students. At
present, no national framework or curriculum (outside of the AP exam) that attempt to
raise the standard of computer science courses has been broadly adopted, though several

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suggested plans have been developed. 52 And as of 2010, only sixteen states had over 50
percent adoption of standards focusing on computing concepts. 53 Moreover, the focus
around Java has led to questions about how effective this AP CS curriculum is in teaching
real concepts instead of more narrow knowledge of specific programs or software packages,
leading a British report on international computer science to call the exam “rather
narrow.” 54

Figure 5: AP Computer Science Test Takers, Total and as a Percentage of All AP Tests,
1990-2015 55
60,000 2.5%

50,000
2.0%

40,000
1.5%
30,000
1.0%
20,000

0.5%
10,000

0 0.0%

Computer Science Test Takers Percentage of Total AP exams

The new AP exam, Computer Science Principles, which will be launched in the fall of
2016, represents a step in the right direction. 56 As opposed to the existing AP exam, which
tests students in Java, the AP CS Principles course offers a language-agnostic, holistic view
of computer science, focusing less on the syntax of a single programming language and
more on the principles and interdisciplinary nature of computer science. The course also
covers computing concepts such as algorithms and abstractions, introduces students to
issues surrounding cybersecurity and the impact of the internet, and seeks to give students a
framework for using computing to approach a wide variety of problems. 57

Lack of women and minorities in high school computer science

As courses get more serious and move away from required technology courses light on real
computer science, the gender ratio becomes even more skewed. Only 21.9 percent of
students in AP computer science courses are female, the most egregious gender skew of any
AP course. 58 These rates contribute directly to wide gender gaps in the labor market where
76 percent of U.S. workers in computer occupations are male. 59 Social encouragement,
self-perception, academic exposure, and career perception all play into whether females will
pursue CS. 60 Reaching girls before high school is important, as those who take AP CS in
high school are more than 10 times more likely to major in Computer Science than those
who do not. 61

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Minorities also take the AP computer science course at low rates even when compared to
other science courses. 62 Only 3.8 percent of AP computer science students are black and
only 9.2 percent are Hispanic, compared to 5.8 percent and 14.1 percent respectively in AP
Calculus AB and 7 percent and 17.4 percent respectively of all AP students. 63 If females
and minority students took computer science at the rate of white and Asian males, the
number of computer science exam-takers would increase by over 130 percent.

Figure 6: AP test takers by race, 2015 64

70%

60% Computer Science

50%
Calculus AB
40%
Chemistry
30%

Biology
20%

10% Total Exams

0%
White Asian Hispanic Black

Figure 7: Students in STEM Advanced Placement courses by race, 2015 65

350,000

300,000

250,000

200,000
Other
150,000 Black
Hispanic
100,000
Asian
50,000
White

There are also large deviations in performance on the test. AP exams are scored on a 1 to 5
scale, with scores above 2 considered to be passing grades. While all tests aim for a normal
score distribution, the AP computer science exam has the widest standard deviation of any
AP test, and the highest proportion of students receiving a 1, the lowest possible score (over

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31 percent of students). For minorities, the failure rate is even more pronounced, with over
53 percent of Hispanic students and 59 percent of black students receiving 1s, again the
highest proportion of any AP exam. For female minority students, these rates are even
more extreme, with 65 percent of Hispanic girls and 68 percent of black girls receiving 1’s.

Figure 8: Average scores on AP Computer Science exam by ethnicity and gender, 2015 66
5

0
Asian White Hispanic Black Total

Female Male

Figure 9: Percent of Students Receiving Lowest Possible Score on AP Computer Science exam
by gender and race, 2015 67
70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
Other Black Hispanic Asian White

Female Male

This wide disparity between students who do well and those who do not implies that the
quality of many AP computer science courses is highly variable and that many students of
advanced computer science courses do not receive adequate instruction.

Crowded out: Computer science as an elective

Today, computer science education, regardless of whether it is true CS or more vocational
and skills-based training, is still secondary to the standard science education track. As a

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 result, until recently, and in virtually all high schools, computer science was designated as a
class to be taken only after completing core requirements. Fortunately, more states are
making room in the curriculum by revising laws to allow CS to fulfill a graduation
requirement. To date, 28 states and the District of Columbia allow computer science to
count as either a math or science graduation requirement. 68 This is up from nine states in
2010. 69 More states are rightly considering making this change.

Computer science is frequently viewed as a course to take only after exhausting other
science and math options, and college-bound students are often encouraged to take second
courses in biology, chemistry, or physics instead of a CS course. Together with the
persisting stigma that equates computer science with “geekiness” and the perceived
difficulty of learning CS, the fact that many states still treat computer science as an elective
instead of a requirement make CS a class that few students are able to or want to take. Of
schools offering computer science, 51 percent reported that students who would be good
fits for the course, both in interest and ability, skip CS because its classes are deemed
less important. 70
Of high schools Additionally, CS teachers are often not accredited and provided with few resources. 71
offering computer Because many schools offer only a single CS course, teachers for these courses commonly
science, 51 percent have their main focus in another field. These teachers may not have the deep expertise or
reported that it was time to focus on creating an enriching curriculum and stimulating class environment. The
very common for class can only go as deep as the teacher’s bank of knowledge. As a result, only a very narrow
group of high school students ever take computer science classes that provide a solid
students who would
ground in computer science principles and practices. 72
be good fits for the
course, both in It is not that white and Asian males crowd out female and minority would-be CS
interest and ability, students—in many schools the barrier to expanding CS enrollment is not insufficient class
spots but too little demand for the subject among students to justify creating a class at all.
skipped CS because
Even where CS classes are offered, schools have trouble finding enough students who fit
CS classes are
the criteria to sign up for courses, leading to low class sizes (14.8 students per teacher
deemed less taking the AP course in 2014, though this was up by 75 percent from 2008). 73 As noted
important. above, this is in part because students have little room for an elective course like CS given
the increase in required courses. 74

Making computer science an option for fulfilling STEM requirements, is a good way to get
more students and more diversity into computer science. 75 Moreover, such initiatives have
broad popular support—77 percent of voters in Washington State supported making
computer science count as a core math and science course rather than an elective. 76 In the
first year of counting the course toward graduation requirements, individual school districts
have seen enrollment in computer science course jump by as much as 50 percent. 77

Teacher training and limited educational resources

When high school CS courses are offered, the quality of teaching is often limited. Simply
put, individuals who have adequate computer science knowledge, the pedagogical

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 knowledge required to be a good teacher, and are willing to work for wages far below what
their skill sets could command on the open market are rare.

The early generations of high school CS teachers were largely teachers of other subjects
with an enthusiasm for computers. 78 In many cases, teachers had not themselves taken
more conceptual computer science classes as part of their education. As standards and
certifications improve, teachers are more likely to have formal educations in computer
science. This evolution is vital to the success of computer science education.

A survey of schools offering computer classes showed that only 34 percent of high schools
with computer classes offered a course where debugging was a core concept, only 32
percent offered a course featuring analysis of algorithms, and 36 percent had a course
including data structures. 79 This is a symptom of the “some STEM for all” approach, in
which classes using technology are mandated in the curriculum but standards are not put
in place and resources are not provided to ensure quality classes with teachers who are
prepared to teach the course.

One major barrier to increasing the quantity and quality of CS courses offered to high
While in 2003, school students is teacher certification. Students in graduate education programs choose the
women received 36.9 subjects in which they certify. However, in 29 states, computer science is not even an
percent of computer option. Therefore, teachers who end up in classrooms are either uncertified or certified for
another subject. Even in the states with certification, most (12 of 21) do not require
science bachelor’s
certification to teach CS subjects, as they worry that the introduction of this requirement
degrees, in 2013 that
could reduce the already limited supply of CS teachers. Only Arizona, Wisconsin, and the
number was down to District of Columbia require certification for all CS teachers. 80
21.7 percent.
The United States should aim to have high-quality CS courses as common in high schools
as calculus courses. To do so, the United States needs to train and certify 10,000 additional
CS teachers. The CS10K non-profit initiative, seeks to do just that—train instructors to
teach in-depth computer science courses using rigorous curricula. 81 However, quality
computer science teachers cannot be created overnight. Like any serious academic subject,
computer science is a rigorous discipline, not to be mastered over only a few weeks of
training. Moreover, most graduates with computer science degrees could find much higher
compensation in other fields. Recruiting and training quality teachers is a major barrier to
extending access to computer science across all schools, and an impediment to blanket
mandates by school districts that seek to offer computer science courses in every school.

COMPUTER SCIENCE IN THE UNIVERSITY

Computer science in U.S. colleges and universities faces a unique set of challenges and
opportunities. Unlike in American high schools, where computer science education is
deemed sub-par, the United States boasts strong tertiary computer science programs that
draw students from across the globe. Moreover, the number of college and university
students taking classes and pursuing majors in computer science is growing quickly.
However, challenges remain, including how to fully take advantage of the increase in
interested students and how to expand enrollment among women and minorities.

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Tertiary computer science education has seen spurts of growth, but the overall rate of
growth has been torpid considering the magnified role computers and technology have on
every aspect of our lives. For about half of the last decade, computer science as a college
major has been in sharp decline. From 2004 to 2009, the share of computer science majors
fell by 30 percent for males and 55 percent for females. Since then, the number of males
has largely recovered, and is just 5 percent below 2004 numbers. However, the number of
females majoring in computer science remains 39 percent below the 2004 peak. While in
2003, women received 36.9 percent of bachelor’s degrees in CS, in 2013 that number was
down to 21.7 percent. 82

Much of the success of university computer science departments comes from the ability of
high schools to expose students to computer science and get them thinking about the
subject as a possible major and career. Currently, only two percent of high school students
have an accurate impression of what computer science majors learn. 83 Lack of information
about the nature of CS and its usefulness in the workforce severely limit that number of
students seeking to study CS. Students who took the AP computer science exam are eight
times more likely to major in computer science than other incoming freshmen. Even if
students do not take a CS class themselves, the presence of a computer science course in the
high school alerts students that computer science is a possible career path, and increases
their likelihood of experimenting with the discipline later. 84

Figure 10: Bachelor Degrees in Computer Science, 1971-2013 85

70,000

60,000

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

Males Females

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Figure 11: Percent of total university graduates majoring in computer science, 1997-2013 86
8%

7%

6%

5%

4%

3%

2%

1%

0%

Males Females

Figure 12: Advanced Degrees in Computer Science, 2001-2013 87

30,000

25,000

20,000

15,000

10,000

5,000

0
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Master's Degrees Doctoral Degrees

In addition to bachelors’ degrees, U.S. universities also awarded 22,777 master’s degrees
and 1,826 doctoral degrees in CS. However, many of these degrees are earned by foreign
students. In 2013, 52 percent of doctorate degrees and 43 percent of Masters degrees went
to non-resident aliens, many of whom leave the country shortly after graduation, whether
by choice or after failing to obtain a work visa. 88 That foreign students wish to attend
American universities is ultimately a positive for the United States. As Professor Giovanni
Peri states, “The United States has the enormous international advantage of being able to
attract talent in science, technology, and engineering from all over the world to its most
prestigious institutions.” 89 However, the high proportion of foreign students demonstrates

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the comparative weakness of the U.S. educational system in preparing its own students to
pursue advanced degrees in computer science.

While data are not available, all indications suggest that the upward trend has continued
through 2014 and 2015. Student interest in introductory CS courses has seen rapid growth
in many universities. At Stanford, MIT, the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, and the
University of Michigan, interest in introductory CS courses more than doubled between
2006 and 2013. 90 At Northwestern University, the number of CS majors doubled and
enrollment in introductory courses tripled in five years. 91 At Harvard, 12 percent of
undergraduates enrolled in the wildly popularity introductory course, CS50, in 2014, a
roughly 500 percent increase from 2006. 92

Seeds of Growth
This trend comes with important caveats. First, the increase is following an established
pattern of cyclical growth and decline and may well be followed by a cyclical downturn.
General excitement surrounding new computing technologies also plays a significant role
in college enrollment. The supply of computer science graduates has had two brief spikes—
first in the mid-1980s and then again in the early to mid-2000s—corresponding with the
advent of the personal computer and the dot-com boom respectively. We are witnessing
another spike, with graduation rates growing steadily since a low in 2009. (See figure 10.)
Exciting new technologies like smart phones and app development have drawn increased
interest in computer science.

Conventional economic wisdom states that students should be drawn into computer
science by higher wages. What is clear is that past and current spikes in interest in
computer science are not created solely by wage expectations. For one thing, while wages
have been increasing over the last decade, they have not shown any extreme growth nor
changed compared to other majors. 93 Computer science and engineering degrees offer the
third-best return on investment of any major, and this has not changed. 94

Wage incentives in IT occupations are not the only draw for student interest in computer
science. Enrollment in computer science introductory courses is increasing as more and
more non-majors realize that the subject is relevant to their fields. 95 Moreover, computer
science is shedding its “geeky” stigma. Some students, motivated by a desire to enact social
change, do something good for the world, or become entrepreneurs, are turning to
computer science.

Artificial Capacity Limits

While interest in computer science is increasing, colleges and universities are frequently
unable to meet demand. Today’s workforce demands expertise in computers and
programming matched with knowledge in other fields. The increase of college majors has
the unintended result of crowding out minors and other students looking to take just a few
classes. Too few universities are willing and able to increase the computer science faculty
and offer more classes to students; thus, not only will some students wanting to major in
computer science lack the opportunity to do so, others, interested in exploring CS will also

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 be disappointed. As Ed Lazowska states, “We’re turning away many students we’d love to
have. That’s the tragedy.” 96 There are many students who could and would major in
computer science in college if the bottlenecks were removed. Indeed, universities
commonly make it harder for students to study computer science than other subjects—the
exact opposite of what society and the economy need. Getting more kids engaged in
science at the K-12 level will not solve the problem if CS programs at the tertiary level
cannot be scaled up.

Most research on this topic has focused on high-profile universities such as elite private
schools and large public universities. However, research suggests that the CS capacity
problem extends to, and indeed may be more severe in, less renowned institutions. Smaller
colleges, state universities serving localized areas, and community colleges may have an even
harder time expanding offerings, hampered by both more limited budgets, in general, and
less developed CS departments. For the highly ranked universities discussed above,
increasing capacity is largely an exercise in scaling up existing programs. Less prestigious
institutions may need to create course offerings from scratch. 97
Universities commonly There are two main reasons why most colleges and universities have not expanded CS
make it harder for curricula adequately in response to growing demand. First, computer science, like most
students to study STEM-concentrated degrees, costs more for schools to provide than majors in the liberal
computer science than arts or social sciences. Universities, particularly state schools that have faced funding cuts
other subjects—the from state legislatures, are loath to take on these additional costs by encouraging or
enabling more students to take courses. 98 Better to have students major in English
exact opposite of what
literature.
society and the
economy need. Second, universities and colleges often face resistance from within when they try to increase
the size and offerings of departments, especially if such efforts are not accompanied by
additional students for the university. Expanding the number of classes offered to match
increasing demand is difficult for most universities, especially those with limited resources
for increasing the faculty. In many cases, hiring faculty to address growing demand requires
cutting faculty from other departments. Universities are naturally hesitant to do so, or
unable to in the case of tenured faculty in other fields. The result is an educational system
that responds slowly to student demand. Even schools with hefty endowments have trouble
responding to student course priorities with faculty hires. Yale University, whose computer
science faculty count has not grown from the 1980s, is finally hiring new professors in
response to student petitions. 99

If universities do not have strong incentives to divert and expend resources on computer
science, progress will not be made. As Paul Romer argued in 2000, “The picture that
emerges from this evidence is one dominated by undergraduate institutions that are a
critical bottleneck in the training of scientists and engineers, and by graduate schools that
produce people trained only for employment in academic institutions as a side effect of the
production of basic research results.” 100 While Romer was writing during the previous
upswing in computer science growth during the tech bubble, unfortunately the situation he

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 observed still describes CS today. In short, while a computer science major may be better
both for the student and the economy, some universities and colleges are largely indifferent
to what majors its graduates have chosen. In this case, there is a tension between the
interests of the universities and the interests of society.

Schools facing these tradeoffs have three options. First, they can place barriers and
restrictions on entry into computer science classes or into the CS major or minor. Second,
they can charge more for CS classes, decreasing demand for CS and using extra funds to
increase the supply of opportunities in the CS department. Finally, schools can work in
other ways to expand their offerings in CS to meet student demand.

Barriers to studying CS
Unfortunately, many schools facing increased demand for computer science are turning to
the same stop-gap measure employed in the last spike during the early 2000s, chiefly 1)
restricting the size of the major; 2) excluding or discouraging non-majors from taking
advanced classes; 3) reducing course diversity and concentrating on introductory courses;
4) relying on MOOCs to teach introductory courses; or 5) having enormous class sizes in
Many universities, which students must sink or swim on their own. 101
even those with top
Many schools simply reject a higher percentage of CS applications rather than expand the
programs,
slots available. In the California University system, admissions criteria for computer science
acknowledge that they are now higher than for other majors in order to limit the number of students enrolled. 102
purposely cap Similarly, data published by Carnegie Mellon University show that admission rates into
numbers of CS majors computer science programs are only 5 percent, compared to 27 percent among the
when demand humanities. 103 The admissions bottleneck also extend to Masters and Ph.D. programs,
exceeds supply. where admission rates among qualified applicants are low despite wage rates for graduates
being very high. 104

Others have limited demand by restricting students from switching into CS majors. For
instance, at the University of California at Berkeley, students who did not initially apply
for admission to the engineering school must have an GPA of 3.3 in three introductory
courses in order to be eligible to declare a CS major. As this is a difficult feat (the average
grade in each course is around a B, or a 3.0), students may not wish to risk falling short of
the cutoff. 105

While there are notable exceptions to this practice, many universities, even those with top
programs, acknowledge that they purposely cap numbers of CS majors when demand
exceeds supply. 106 This deleterious practice limits the impact of wage incentives on
producing computer science graduates and it substantially limits the number of students
with multidisciplinary educations that include computer science. These frictions and
barriers explain why high wages fail to result in increased graduation rates.

In cases where universities expand enrollment but not faculty, class sizes grow larger,
faculty can spend less time per student and often introduction courses become “weed-out”
courses with overly strict standards, leading to high rates of failed or discouraged students.

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The students who succeed, and the ones admitted into the program in the first place, tend
to be students who have had prior computer experience (and even not all of these get in).
Moreover, such prior experience is a poor predictor of future performance. 107

As barriers to computer science are erected, the students impacted the most are
underrepresented women and minorities. These groups are less likely to have had exposure
to computer science in high school. Caps and weed-out classes often exacerbate existing
gender and racial disparities in CS classrooms.

Students interested in taking a few classes or even minoring are also discouraged, as scarce
departmental resources are dedicated to the majors who manage to survive weed-out
introduction classes. The result is that it is harder to produce the “double-deeps” the digital
economy needs – students with some CS skills complemented by another specialty (e.g.,
accounting, design, etc.).

Raising the cost of CS

Some universities are more transparent about this problem than others. In fact, many
schools have taken to charging students more for computer science courses, using the
increased tuition to expand their programs. For instance, the University of Maryland
College Park, after seeing the number of computer science majors rise by 140 percent since
2009, is instituting a differential price model and charging computer science majors, along
with engineering and business majors, $5,600 more than their classmates for a four-year
degree. 108 In essence, this has two effects, one on the supply side and one on the demand.
First, it enables the university to expand and improve its offerings in these subjects,
although still not enough to meet legitimate demand. The University of Maryland plans on
using increased tuition to hire 23 more professors, introduce new minors, and increase
financial aid. 109 Second, it leads some students who otherwise would major in CS,
especially those who are financially disadvantaged, to turn to other fields.

The problem with this strategy, reflecting the different needs of universities and societies, is
that it sends exactly the wrong market signal. The most valuable degrees from a societal and
economic perspective are now more expensive, while the less valuable ones are cheaper and
more heavily subsidized. A better solution would be to raise tuition overall and dedicate the
increased resources to expanding CS (and other STEM) faculty and resources.

And the ideal way to better align educational policy with societal needs would be to charge
lower tuition rates for STEM classes. This is what Florida governor Rick Scott proposed in
2012 for students studying subjects deemed to be in demand among Floridian employers,
including computer science. The initiative, never enacted, reasoned that freezing tuition
rates for certain majors could incentivize students to pursue educations that will be valuable
in the state’s economy. 110 However, unless steps are also taken to increase the classroom
spots available for these students, this kind of proposal is unlikely to have much of
an impact.

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Examples of CS Expansion
However, some schools are using resources to expand their CS offerings and accessibility.
Some of these are coming from partnerships with technology companies. Harvard
expanded its very popular computer science offerings after receiving a matching grant from
Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s former CEO, enabling them to hire 12 new teachers in 2014. 111
In 2015, Google awarded six CS Capacity grants to eight universities with three-year
proposals to implement “innovative, inclusive, and sustainable approaches to address
current scaling issues in university CS educational programs.”

Recipient universities Carnegie Mellon, Duke, Mount Holyoke, George Mason, Rutgers,
the University of California, Berkeley, North Carolina State, and UNC Chapel Hill have
all begun to implement programs designed to improve enrollment and retention rates
through innovative teaching methods such as peer-to-peer tutoring, separation of practice
and assessments, mentoring, and the use of new technology tools to give students practice
on concepts as they master them. 112 Preliminary results show that these institutions have
been able to increase the number of students entering and passing CS courses.

Stanford University has pledged not to cap computer science courses, citing a historical
commitment to provide whatever classes students demand. Currently, 95 percent of
Stanford undergraduates take at least one computer science class, and computer science has
become the most popular major among women on campus; women now represent 30
percent of CS majors. 113

At the graduate level, Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) is breaking ground
with a new online Masters of Science in Computer Science (OMSCS) degree. The program
began in the Spring of 2014 and one year later had an enrollment of 2,300 students. In a
few years, it could expand to enroll as many as 10,000 master’s students. The entire online
program costs only $6,600. 114 Costs are cut down by relying on MOOCs to reach students
from all over the world. MOOCs degrees like Georgia Tech’s may be keys to providing the
quantity of graduate level education demanded by students. However, Georgia Tech’s
degree so far has predominantly served demographics with high levels of access. Almost 90
percent of OMSCS program are male, compared to 76 percent of on-campus students.
And while Asian students represent the majority of on-campus master’s students, online
students are likely to be white. 115

SUSTAINING AND FUELING PROGRESS

In the past, upswings in interest have been cyclical in nature, driven by exciting new
technologies that draw students into courses. There is no way of knowing whether recent
increases will reach a zenith and then decrease, stay stable, or continue to grow.

There are positive signs. Businesses and advocacy organizations are increasingly lobbying
state education systems to improve computer science standards, certify more teachers with
the skills to impart real computer science skills, and allow students to count computer
science as a math or science credit for graduation. Advocacy work has complemented
increased interest in the field by students, much of it motivated by recent technology

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 advancements and the app economy. And the growth in student enrollment in computer
science courses is unprecedented.

However, even this upswing in interest may not be enough to meet the demands of the
U.S. workforce for hires with CS expertise and for those with CS competency and
exposure. To successfully address the U.S. skills gap in computing, interest in the field
must be matched by innovative education policy.

Interest in computer science needs to be complemented by high schools choosing to teach

the subject, effectively trained and selected teachers, and curricula honed to emphasize
rigorous studies rather than basic computing literacy. In addition, universities need to
expand their offerings in computer science, increase the share of applicants accepted and
emphasize retention of students majoring in CS, as well as allow non-majors to take CS at
the college level. This movement will require the cooperation and coordination of all levels
of the U.S. education system, local, state and federal government involvement, and
continued contributions and expertise from industry and non-governmental
organizations (NGOs).
To successfully
There are a finite number of students with both the interest and the talent to excel in
address the U.S. skills
computing and pursue high-paying computing careers. Computer science education policy
gap in computing,
in the United States should focus on enabling a higher percentage of those students to
interest in the field acquire an in-depth education in computer science.
must be matched
by innovative Non-Traditional Initiatives
While the American school system has not fully responded to the increased importance of
education policy.
computer science and IT skills, more employers, parents, and even students recognize the
benefits of learning computer science. A new generation of non-profits and advocacy
groups, learning-programs, and courses have sprung up in response. Non-profits such as
Code Academy, CS10k, Black Girls Code, and Girls who Code seek to democratize access
to computer science education across gender lines and socioeconomic divides, introduce
computer science to students at a younger age, train more teachers, and put computer
science into more schools. Some of these organizations are relative newcomers. Others have
been working in the space well before the sudden recent growth in computer science,
laying groundwork by establishing standards for computer science and generating interest
in increasing the profile of the subject.

Perhaps none have had as large an impact as Code.org. Through its Hour of Code
initiative, the organization has introduced tens of millions of children to coding and
computer science, with 244 million hours of code logged on Code.org curriculum. The
coursework has a focus on promoting inclusion of female and minority students. 116 The
organization has extensive teacher training programs, and has successfully lobbied for
policy reform to allow CS to count as a graduation requirement in 17 states. 117 By creating
enormous exposure to CS in primary schools, pressure is placed on secondary and tertiary
educators to provide CS courses to sate the academic appetite of students inspired by
Code.org modules at an early age. By training teachers and pushing for state level reforms,

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 Code.org has also helped lay groundwork for secondary schools to meet that
growing demand.

As non-profits, these are initiatives mostly funded through a combination of grants from
private foundations, gifts from individuals, and corporate philanthropy. In particular,
corporate philanthropy plays a major role in funding these efforts. Google partners with
organizations all across the world, including the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, to
provide computer science opportunities for youth through its CS First program and has
provided grants to help improve capacity in universities through its CS Capacity program.
Microsoft recently dedicated $75 million to funding non-profit computer science
education efforts, and several other large corporations have demonstrated commitments to
providing funds to connect students with high-quality computer science and STEM
education programs. Moreover, companies have rallied behind President Obama’s
“Computer Science for All” proposal, with Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Oracle and
Qualcomm, among others, pledging to support the initiative. Oracle, in fact, has pledged
$200 million in philanthropic spending to support the President’s proposal if enacted. 118
Israel has 16.2 times Moreover, an open letter to lawmakers signed by 27 state governors emphasized the need
for federal involvement in CS education and called for expanding CS opportunities. 119
as many students take
rigorous computer In addition, computer learning programs aimed at adults are increasingly popular. Many
science classes in Americans are realizing that further education courses in computing can complement their
high schools as the current skill-set and improve their career prospects. The recent TechHire Initiative,
launched by the Obama administration in March of 2015, is investing $100 million to
United States does on
train or retrain professionals in digital skills. Private initiatives like Recurse Center and
a per capita basis.
others also provide continued computer science education allowing people to boost their
digital skills. As workers are increasingly advantaged by having “double-deep” skills, or
complementary expertise in both digital skills and in another field, many may seek to take
basic courses to endow themselves with the CS expertise they need to succeed. However,
short immersive classes meant to teach marketable skills are no substitute for the years of
academic courses needed to learn computer science.

International Comparisons
Computer science education is becoming more prevalent all around the developed world,
and many countries have already made integrating computer science into classrooms a top
educational priority.

Israel leads the world in computer science education. The country was an early proponent
of CS in high schools: it simultaneously expanded access to CS, improved the curriculum,
trained teachers, and increased enrollment in universities 20 years ago, and reformed its
curriculum in the late 1990s. On a per-capita basis, Israel has 16.2 times as many students
as the United States taking rigorous computer science in high school. 120 Its groundbreaking
curriculum emphasized making CS a science instead of teaching only coding. Students
should be taught programming, proponents argue, as a means to reinforce deeper and more
important knowledge in creating and understanding algorithms, and to create a subject

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that would be as respected by tertiary institutions as traditional biology, chemistry, and
physics courses. 121 The students studying under this curriculum in recent years have helped
transform Israel into a major player in technology innovation, with Tel Aviv emerging as a
hub for technology. No other country has taken such an intentional, coordinated effort to
improve CS education. As in the United States, Israeli undergraduate enrollment in
computer science peaked in the early 2000s and has yet to fully recover from that high.
However, with 5.7 percent of undergraduates majoring in computer science or
mathematics, Israel still has a much higher concentration of CS majors than does the
United States. 122

Many other nations have also begun to reform their computer science curriculum with an
eye towards success in global marketplace. Finland, Denmark, Australia, and Singapore
have all taken real steps towards reforming CS education to enhance future competitiveness
in high-tech sectors. 123 These include introducing CS to primary school students, adding
more deep concepts to curricula, and training more specialized teachers.

In 2013, the United Kingdom mandated that students aged 5 to 14 take computer science,
and for all high school students to have the option to take the course. 124 Through this
measure, the United Kingdom hopes to be able to address their own impending
technology-skills shortage, and help fill the estimated 249,000 tech-skilled jobs that will be
available in the United Kingdom by 2020. 125 However, though CS is now required, the
UK is still struggling to train the computer science teachers needed to teach every primary
student in the country.

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
Graduates with skills in computer science are a valuable resource for the U.S. economy. It
is therefore not enough to rely on the “market” to determine the number of workers with
computer science skills. If for no other reason, this is because key educational institutions
involved do not adequately respond to market signals. As a result, it is incumbent on states
and the federal government to require or incentivize secondary and tertiary education
institutions to expand their ability to train a broader group of students in computer
science. Expanding CS education, along with other STEM intensive training that is in high
demand by the workforce such as engineering, should be considered to be an essential
component of U.S. innovation policy. 126

To close the gap with other nations and improve computer science education, the United
States needs to take several steps to enable all segments of the computer science pipeline to
grow. The most important step is to leverage current momentum in the field.

Allow computer science to count

At the high school level, all states should allow CS to count for a math or science
graduation requirement, removing barriers to students choosing whether or not to take
computer science courses. This also allows students to take CS earlier in high school
instead of waiting until all their graduation requirements have been met. Students who

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have an aptitude for science, regardless of race or gender, are more likely to take CS courses
if they count towards graduation.

Teach computer science in all high schools

States should prioritize making computer science available in every school. Several state and
local governments, including Chicago and New York City, have begun to answer the call
by mandating full access to computer science in their schools. Similarly, Texas required CS
in schools, though implementation of this has been slow. In 2015, Arkansas passed a
measure to put CS in all schools after Asa Hutchinson made CS education a core focus of
his gubernatorial campaign. 127 The state plans on having all primary students take CS by
the 2017 -2018 school year, with CS available at every high school. In addition, Idaho,
Alabama, Utah, and Washington have prioritized CS education, and are actively working
to improve curriculum and expand access. Virginia is now in the process of passing
legislation that will make it the first state to make CS a core academic requirement for all
K-12 students. 128 However, these mandates are only possible and advisable if quality,
certified teachers are available. Otherwise, the result will likely be low-quality substitutes
for real CS courses taught by teachers without computer expertise.

Increase the number of qualified computer science teachers

U.S. educational policy should focus on providing many more students with the
opportunity to learn computer science in a rigorous manner from a certified teacher. All 50
states should have certification programs that allow education graduate students seeking to
become teachers to specialize in computer science. Federal initiatives can help promote
both the supply of certification programs and demand for these programs. The federal
government should provide matching grants to states for establishing teacher certification
programs in CS. Moreover, the federal government should provide funds to subsidize the
cost of teacher certification and master’s programs for prospective teachers who successfully
teach computer science in the United States for five years.

States are loath to require teachers to be certified for fear of losing existing teachers.
However, subsidizing the cost of certification and providing higher wages for teachers with
certification will incentivize teachers to acquire certification without making it a
requirement. Federal matching grants should also provide extra compensation for teachers
with CS certification, for a fixed period of time, say 10 years. This funding would raise
wages for CS teachers, which is essential to attract a greater number of teachers who could
otherwise be earning more in the private sector.

Funding for these grants should come through the “Computer Science for All” plan, part
of President Obama’s recent budget, which proposes $4.1 billion over 3 years to states for
expanding CS education. 129 Under this plan, states create comprehensive 5-year plans to
expand their K-12 CS offerings, and all states with well-designed strategies would receive
funds. The President’s proposal also allots $100 million to specific districts to target
underrepresented populations and serve as scalable models for the rest of the country. 130
Attracting and training teachers by following the above recommendations should be a
cornerstone of states’ plans for promoting CS education. This federal support will help

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION FOUNDATION | MAY 2016 PAGE 27

 states invest in quality teachers and pay them higher wages, as well as to develop and
implement better curricula and build on current successes in computer science. Congress
should include these funding proposals in the 2017 fiscal budget.

Double the number of STEM charter schools

There are approximately 100 STEM-focused high schools in America. Most of these public
STEM high schools can provide a deep-dive into computer science for interested students
and have been proven to be effective in including minorities and students from socio-
economically disadvantaged areas in high-quality STEM education. 131 Doubling the
number of STEM high schools will allow more students with a passion and deep ability to
excel in CS. Moreover, efforts should be made to ensure that all existing STEM-focused
high schools provide a deep and rigorous curriculum in CS.

Create incentives for more tertiary computer science

At the university level, policymakers need to address the barriers that limit the number of
students able to take computer science. To encourage higher CS enrollment and
graduation rates, the National Science Foundation should provide grants to schools that
Doubling the number have increased or are implementing programs to increase enrollment and retention in
of STEM high schools computer science. Schools seeking to expand course offerings, hire more faculty, and
will allow more provide students in computer science with more resources to improve retention rates
students with a should be eligible to apply. These benefits should aim to incentivize universities and
colleges to emulate the efforts of universities receiving Google’s CS Capacity grants. 132
passion and deep
ability to excel in The federal government should also require increased transparency as a prerequisite for
computer science. certain educational funds. For instance, schools should be required to monitor and disclose
the number of CS applicants, prospective majors, and their retention rates in CS subjects in
order to be eligible for certain federal benefits. Ideally this would be done for all
STEM disciplines.

States should also provide more funding to offset the higher costs of training CS majors.
Because educating a CS major is more expensive than training an English literature major,
for example, schools should receive higher levels of funding for graduating a CS major or a
major in another relatively expensive STEM major than for lower cost majors. This will
help correct the perverse incentives universities face to steer students towards lower
cost majors.

Finally, to help address low gender and minority rates in CS, schools should focus more on
potential, not on previous access to CS, when considering admission. Admission
departments also tend to overemphasize experience over problem solving, leadership, and
other intangible characteristics. 133 Thus, the solution should be to change the gating
mechanism for admissions. To address this problem, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)
successfully weighted prior experience lower in their ranks of preference for admission, and
managed in 5 years to increase the enrollment rate of women in computer science majors
from 7 percent in 1995 to 42 percent in 2000. 134

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION FOUNDATION | MAY 2016 PAGE 28

CONCLUSION
Computer science education is increasingly important to students and the economy.
Despite this, computer science is offered at only a small fraction of American schools, and
then lack of unified standards and curricula that focus on skills rather than concepts erodes
the value of these courses. While practically all students take biology, computer science is
frequently allotted few resources or deemed to be an unimportant class, and gender and
ethnicity play a large role in who takes computer science.

The outlook for computer science education, however, is improving. Spearheaded by non-
profit initiatives, the importance of coding has led to concerted efforts to increase the
number of students taking CS courses, provide teachers with resources, and generate
interest in the field. Public initiatives to give more students access to rigorous CS classes are
beginning to make a difference. As a result, high school students taking CS, as well as
college students interested in majoring in CS have risen dramatically. However, to
maintain this upswing in interest and satisfy the economy’s demand for computing skills,
dedicated efforts must be made to recognize the true value of CS as a rigorous, relevant
academic discipline, even prioritizing CS above other more established science courses.
Universities must find ways to increase the number of computer science courses they offer
to satisfy demand from students. And, action to introduce students to CS at an earlier age
is key to teaching students the value of CS.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION FOUNDATION | MAY 2016 PAGE 29

ENDNOTES
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3. This figure, presented at the TechHire rollout, has drawn critique in regards to its methodology.
However, recent H-1B petitions, support this, as does Change the Equation and Business Roundtable
paper in which a few large companies reported 200,000 openings for STEM jobs. Change the Equation
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 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors wish to thank the following individuals for providing input to this
report: Stephen Ruth, Ed Lazowska, Alison Derbenwick Miller, Cameron Wilson,
Pat Yongpradit, Renee Dopplick, Sepi Hejazi Moghadam, and Barbara Ericson.
Any errors or omissions are the authors’ alone.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Adams Nager is an economic policy analyst at ITIF. He researches and writes
on innovation economics, manufacturing policy, and the importance of STEM
education and high-skilled immigration. Nager holds an M.A. in political
economy and public policy and a B.A. in economics, both from Washington
University in St. Louis.

Robert D. Atkinson is the founder and president of ITIF. Atkinson’s books

include Innovation Economics: The Race for Global Advantage (Yale, 2012),
Supply-Side Follies: Why Conservative Economics Fails, Liberal Economics
Falters, and Innovation Economics is the Answer (Rowman & Littlefield, 2006),
and The Past And Future Of America’s Economy: Long Waves Of Innovation
That Power Cycles Of Growth (Edward Elgar, 2005). Atkinson holds a Ph.D. in
city and regional planning from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill,
and a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the University
of Oregon.

ABOUT ITIF
The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) is a nonprofit,
nonpartisan research and educational institute focusing on the intersection of
technological innovation and public policy. Recognized as one of the world’s
leading science and technology think tanks, ITIF’s mission is to formulate and
promote policy solutions that accelerate innovation and boost productivity to
spur growth, opportunity, and progress.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT US AT WWW.ITIF.ORG.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION FOUNDATION | MAY 2016 PAGE 38