The Common Core Must Include Computer Science

Maggie Johnson and Jordan Lloyd Bookey

At Google, we are passionate about empowering students to become creators of new technology, along with the educators, parents, and organizations who work with them. We applaud the efforts of so many people who are also helping to make this happen and hope that through our products, tools, and programs, we are able to make a positive impact.

Today, we are writing to sound the alarm on something we see as a major flaw in the emerging set of Common Core standards. For those who don’t know, the Common Core is a shared set of educational standards that states can voluntarily adopt. Prior to this, each state had its own process for developing, adopting, and implementing standards. As a result, what students learned varied widely from state to state. Over the past year, the state-led Common Core State Standards Initiative released the Mathematics and English Language Arts standards and Achieve released the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). This standardization and the increased ability to measure progress across states is a significant improvement.

via Maggie Johnson: The Common Core Must Include Computer Science.

Computing In The Core

Computing in the Core (CinC) is a non-partisan advocacy coalition of associations, corporations, scientific societies, and other non-profits that strive to elevate computer science education to a core academic subject in K-12 education, giving young people the college- and career-readiness knowledge and skills necessary in a technology-focused society. CinC encourages awareness building activities, policy changes and research at national, state, and local levels to build a strong foundation for the future of computer science instruction. It will engage federal and state policy makers, educators, the public, and the media to meet these goals.

via About | Computing In The Core.