Last week, with the flick of his pen, Gov.
Last week, with the flick of his pen, Gov. McAuliffe added computer science and coding to Virginia’s Standards of Learning (SOL) requirements. The bill, which was introduced by Del. Thomas Greason, was passed unanimously by both the Virginia Senate and the House of Delegates.
The reason for this unusual show of bipartisanship is that Virginia is currently experiencing a deficit in computer science professionals. According to Code.org, a non-profit working to expand access to computer science learning to every child in America, there are currently 40,487 unfilled computing jobs in Virginia. This is 4.5 times the average job demand rate in Virginia, despite the fact that, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), computing occupations represent the largest source of new wages in America.
Nationally, because computer science is such a versatile skill in the modern job market, Code.org reports that 71 percent of new Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) jobs will be in computer science fields. This is due to the fact that computational thinking and coding skills are becoming increasingly essential for the practical testing and application of the sciences.
In comparing national data on computer science majors to the projected growth of computer science field, the Department of Education predicts that the nation will experience “a shortage of over one million IT-skilled Americans” by the year 2020.
It was out of concern for this widening gap in job preparedness that President Obama proposed the Computer Science for All initiative in January of this year, to provide all American students with computer science education. According to the White House Office of the Press Secretary, “providing access to a critical step for ensuring that our nation remains competitive in the global economy and strengthens its cybersecurity.”
Thus this most recent Virginia bill is just one part of a larger trend among legislatures, recognizing the importance of computer science education to the nation’s future.
The addition of computer science and coding is not the first technology-related requirement to be included in the Virginia SOLs. Since 2013, “proficiency in the use of computers and related technology” has been a part of the state’s SOLs. Even though these skills are included in the tests, they are not part of annual testing of Virginia students.
“This legislation does not add standards of learning tests,” said Chris Dovi, who wrote the bill in conjunction with Del. Greason and a number of other sponsors. “The idea is to have computer science and computational thinking skills support things that we’re already teaching.”
Dovi is also the co-founder and Executive Director of Code Virginia, a local organization that teaches coding to students, trains teachers, and facilitates state licensing required to teach computer programming.
Instead of adding to formal tests, the bill calls for the state board of education to create new standards for computer science over the next two years. These standards will be implemented by local school boards, whose responsibility it is to develop curriculum requirements that align with the new state expectations.
Though this bill does not provide any funding for the operation of these goals, McAuliffe’s yearly budget was amended to financially support it. On the same day that the bill was passed, the General Assembly approved an investment of $1.1 million dollars to “provide computer science training for new teachers and to develop an in-state infrastructure for training existing teachers to teach computer science curricula.”
Beyond filling the needs of the job market, Dovi said computer science and computational thinking will provide children with the opportunity to learn and express themselves through technology. In a world that has become increasingly reliant on computing to translate, process, and visualize raw data, computer skills are essential to the spread and understanding of information.
“It’s the difference between knowing how the world around you works and being completely clueless to it,” Dovi said. “The difference between being a consumer and being a producer.”
The bill also hopes to combat the inequality women and minorities currently experience in the computer science field. According to the National Center for Women & Information Technology, only 26 percent of the computing workforce were women in 2015. That percentage further decreases in the case of African-American women in the workforce to only 3 percent, and still lower to an appalling 2 percent with regards to Hispanic women in the computing workforce.
These statistics are especially troubling in light of the fact that even low-level jobs which require digital skills pay 46 percent more than non-digital jobs.
By universalizing computer science education in Virginia, this bill aims to shrink the wealth gap that keeps women and minorities from entering the computing workforce against their male peers.
“By making [computer science and computational thinking] an SOL that affects every child in Virginia, our main hope is that every child can have access to basic literacy for jobs,” said Dovi.
Keep up with Dovi’s work at his org’s website here.
