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Computer science for all
Classroom volunteer Aimee Menne helps teach ane of the but informatics classes currently offered at San Francisco's Mission High. Credit: Andra Cernavskis

SAN FRANCISCO — Many children in San Francisco practice non have regular access to computers in school, let alone computer scientific discipline classes. The school district is about to alter that as information technology plans to become the outset big urban school commune in the country to commit itself to exposing every kid to figurer science starting in pre-kindergarten all the mode through 12th grade.

"We are non trying to produce an army of software engineers," said Bryan Twarek, SFUSD's computer science coordinator. "We want to open all doors to this industry, and right now those doors aren't open to everyone."

In fact, only x of San Francisco's 18 loftier schools offer whatsoever kind of informatics class, with but 5 percent of all high schoolhouse students enrolled in classes at any level, from introductory to Avant-garde Placement. Most of the students in that v percent are white or Asian males. Of the few hundred students who took the Advanced Placement exam in reckoner science in 2014, but 22 percent were female, and just 3 percent identified equally African American, Latino, or Native American.

3% — percentage of computer science students who were African American, Latino, or Native American who took the Advanced Placement Computer science examination in San Francisco public schools.

"The students who access [the current classes] do not represent the diverse population that are in those schools," Twarek said.

Related: Should every schoolhouse form be a figurer coding grade?

If successfully implemented, San Francisco'south new initiative will exist a basis-billow: According to Code.org co-founder Hadi Partovi, whose national not-profit has introduced computer programming in over seventy of the largest schoolhouse districts in the country, the urban district that has come closest to accomplishing this level of delivery to computer science is Chicago, which fabricated the subject a mandatory graduation requirement at the high school level.

"Before this annunciation, I would say San Francisco was behind the rest of the country in a field where you lot recollect information technology would exist ahead," said Partovi. "Now it'due south alee."

"Before this announcement, I would say San Francisco was behind the residual of the country in a field where you lot think it would be ahead."

But, before San Francisco can take the lead, it has a lot of hurdles to cantankerous.

Offset, information technology has to finish designing the curriculum. If done the fashion Twarek plans, computer science will become like whatever other mandatory subject, but there is a lot of work that volition need to go into making this a reality, he said.

"We have to pioneer a lot of the systems and curriculum to do this" Twarek said.

Co-ordinate to Twarek, about of the information on how to build a informatics curriculum focuses on practices at the loftier school level, which is when most districts around the country innovate the subject, if at all. The commune will have to rely heavily on its own initiative in order to create a thorough and exhaustive set of standards for the elementary and preschool levels, something about which Twarek has found footling data.

For the younger grades, the main concern of both SFUSD officials and outside observers is that students' learning isn't over-saturated with gadgets and technology merely also involves activities requiring in-depth idea.

12 — number of San Francisco K-viii and center schools that volition have computer science added to their curriculums in the autumn of 2015.

"We want to make sure that when people are talking most informatics education, they are talking about critical thinking and computational learning and not just bringing fancy technology into the classroom," said Julie Flapan, the executive director of Brotherhood for California Computing Pedagogy for Students and Schools (Admission).

While not involved in creating SFUSD's curriculum, Admission works to bring computer scientific discipline teaching to traditionally underserved educatee populations in California. Flapan said that based on what she'southward read about the planned SFUSD programme, San Francisco leaders seem to understand the difference between just teaching students how to use technology and instruction them how to use computer programming equally a course of problem solving.

Related: Education technology is spreading fast, merely in that location's no recipe for success

In addition to curriculum design, the new plan will need more funding if it is to expand. Despite San Francisco's proximity to wealthy Silicon Valley, 54 percent of students in San Francisco's public schools received free or reduced tiffin in the 2014-15 school year and many schools practice non have enough equipment to sustain a information science curriculum. Only two of the city's middle schools now offer an elective course in the subject.

"Nosotros are not trying to produce an ground forces of software engineers."

The initial phase of the pilot twelvemonth volition rely heavily on exterior support and will include but 12 of the district's K-8 and heart schools. Salesforce Foundation, the philanthropic arm of a local software company that has already donated coin and resources to improving access to technology in most of San Francisco'due south middle schools, is a major backer of the middle school program.

"We await to fund the pilot primarily through external sources, and nosotros proceed to seek additional sources so that we tin can airplane pilot in the elementary grades," Twarek said.

SFUSD has agreed to pick upward some program costs in the countdown yr, including teacher grooming.

Twarek anticipates that the commune volition introduce the curriculum to simple schools and preschools over the course of the adjacent school year, with the goal of having a computer science curriculum in every school by 2016-2017.

This story was written past The Hechinger Report , a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Read more than about California schools.

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Andra Cernavskis is a recent graduate of UC Berkeley'south Graduate Schoolhouse of Journalism. She has previously worked as a reporter for The Buffalo News, and San Francisco's missionlocal.org, and The Santa...