Students today need access to courses in the growing technology fields like Computer Science and game design.  Code.org has made a national splash raising awareness about why it is important to teach students to code and to learn computer science. The expectation is that there will be a million more jobs than computer science students by the year 2020.

Not enough of our student population is pursuing these careers, and the common sense behind that is this: if you are not exposed to people with the career in your home community and you are not exposed through school, then where would a person get the experience and establish the interest?  

Leslie Aaronson, Lead Teacher and Coordinator of Foshay Learning Center’s Technology Academy in Los Angeles (a California Partnership Academy program), understands this problem and agrees that programming is a fundamental skill, not only to breach the digital divide in careers, but also to emphasize problem solving, showcase multiple solutions to one problem, and build communication and troubleshooting skills. Leslie has written an excellent article about steps she is taking to get students more excited and engaged in learning to code in honor of the Hour of Code, Code which begins this week and a blog post about the power of an internship.

Heartfelt thanks for all of our teachers who, like Leslie, are taking steps to work with community partners to provide excellent educational experiences for the students who show up in your classroom.