US unveils programme to educate teenagers in cyber skills

The White House has unveiled a $4bn programme aimed at offering computer science courses to K-12 (17 to 19-year-old) students. The move reflects the longer-term effort to counter the shortage of cyber experts in government. ‘Computer Science for All’ aims at incorporating computer science principles into the existing curriculum. Positively, in the past three years, 17 states have changed their legislation to make computer science count towards high school graduation. This new initiative is now about getting computer science into every school, and onto the curriculum as early as possible.

A $4 billion White House effort encouraging K-12 schools to offer computer science courses isn’t just about education reform. It’s also a longer-term effort to fill the shortage of cyber experts in the federal government, according to one official.

Nextgov spoke with Kumar Garg, a senior adviser in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, about the goals of the ambitious "Computer Science for All" initiative, including training teachers to incorporate computer science principles into existing curriculum. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

NG: Computer Science for All provides $4 billion for states, $100 million for districts, and outlines a $135 million investment from the National Science Foundation and the Corporation for National and Community Service to encourage computer science education. Where exactly is that money going?

Based on our interaction with folks on the ground, a large part of the cost share goes toward training teachers [versus equipment]. There’s a lot of motivated educators that want to teach these courses but want the professional development that goes along with it.

In the past three years, 17 states have actually changed their laws to make computer science count toward high school graduation. There’s a number of things states and local [governments] can do to provide computer science education on the ground, including access to updated curricula, training math and science teachers to be able to teach computer science ... and building effective partnerships that allow volunteers and STEM professors to be able to come into the classroom and to be able to do this with teachers. The initiative is really built around, ‘How do we get CS education to every high school? … How do we make sure it starts in the earlier grades?’

In the president's budget is a policy proposal ...for a $4 billion fund that would exist over three years where all 50 states could apply for the resources to be able to implement comprehensive and ambitious Computer Science for All Strategies. That is paired with a discretionary proposal for $100 million for leading districts to be able to have the funds to implement Computer Science for All.

The NSF will be investing $120 million over the next five years through its existing funding streams in support of K-12 CS education. [They] have been very involved with folks like The College Board and a number of nonprofits on upgrading the computer science AP course, there will be a new one rolling out this fall.

The Corporation for National Community Service, the folks that bring you AmeriCorps … they will be supporting the ability for teachers to use [post-service financial awards] to get additional access to professional development training. They’ll invest $17 million to start on that over the next three years.

NG: Are you training teachers in other subjects to learn, and eventually teach, computer science?

It really varies based on grade level. If you’re talking about middle school, you’re talking about training … a math teacher to integrate computer science into their algebra course. When you’re talking about high school in some instances, depending on how big the high school is, you might have a dedicated computer science teacher. Over time, some states are experimenting with having full computer science education credentials. As computer science becomes more and more available, you’ll start to see full cohorts of these types of teachers.

NG: Are you training students to fill the federal government’s tech skill shortage?

We emphasize that part of the need is an economic need. But part of it also ties to national priorities like cybersecurity. We need a lot more students trained in these skills because they can go into these high-demand sectors. We highlighted the fact that there’s a cybersecurity worker shortage in the government and long-term investments like Computer Science for All can complement that. The lessons that we have the opportunity to learn are around what makes a compelling sequencing of courses, so that you can start as a novice and really level up. [Those] are lessons that can be applied no matter what your age is.

NG: How does this fit into the White House’s $100 million TechHire initiative, which aims to train adults so they can get higher-paying technology jobs?

It strongly complements TechHire. More and more communities are starting to see both as a way they can give their community members … access to the IT sector, but they are also are taking the same lessons and applying those in the in the way that they see their K-12 education.

NG: How will you know this effort has been successful?

We’re first going to look to see how much access is being expanded. Are states changing their laws to allow computer science education to count. How many how many high schools are actually offering computer science to their students and how many students and are all types of students taking those courses? And I think over time we also want to see ... those students being able to have those opportunities as they move into the higher education and as adults.