California Leaders Call for Action to Support Computer Science Education

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This week Governor Brown signed legislation that will encourage greater adoption of computer science instruction in California’s schools. Michael Kirst, President of the State Board of Education said: “We need to rethink whether we need to be more aggressive in our approach.” (Los Angeles Times)

Special thanks to Julie Flapan and Debra Richardson of ACCESS for their leadership, advocacy and action that led to the passage of AB 1764 and SB 1200. These bills have the potential to make computer science count for California’s high school students: with AB 1764, an advanced computer science course may count as a math credit toward graduation, and with SB 1200, computer science may count as a credit toward UC/CSU college admissions.

Research has shown that making computer science count incentivizes students, especially those underrepresented in computing including girls and students of color, to enroll in computer science courses in high school.  ACCESS has been working with Code.org, the College Board and University of California Office of the President to try to get math credit approval for AP CS-A.

Here is a brief summary of the enacted legislation with links to the full text:

ACR 108, Wagner. Education: Computer Science Education Week.

What it does: Establishes the week of December 8, 2014, as Computer Science Education Week.

AB 1539, Hagman. Content standards: computer science.

What it does: Requires the Instructional Quality Commission to consider developing and recommending computer science content standards for grades K-12 to the state board, with input from computer science experts, on or before July 31, 2019.

AB 1764, Olsen. School curriculum: mathematics: computer science.

School districts that require students to take more than two math classes for graduation can allow students to earn one advanced math credit from an approved computer science course.

SB 1200, Padilla. Public postsecondary education: academic standards.

The California State University system would be required, and the University of California system would be requested, to develop admission standards for high school computer science that satisfy the advanced mathematics subject area requirements.