Code Missouri — Expanding Computer Science Education To Rural Schools in Missouri
At the fantastic CSforAll Summit in St. Louis we announced Code Missouri — which is an initiative from CodeHS to help expand high quality computer science education opportunities to students in Missouri with a focus on rural communities.
What is Code Missouri?
With Code Missouri we are bringing best-in-class computer science programs to rural Missouri school districts — for free. This includes free curriculum, free professional development, free CodeHS Pro accounts, full support and implementation for the district, and connections to a community of other rural schools and districts teaching computer science.
With Code Missouri we are bringing best-in-class computer science programs to rural Missouri school districts — for free.
Why Rural Schools?
Within the computer science education community there is a large focus on #CSforAll — which means computer science for all students, and a focus on students who are not traditionally given these opportunities, including underrepresented minority students. We’ve focused many of our outreach efforts on bringing more girls into computer science, more black and latinx students as well and we’re going to keep investing in those initiatives.
However, we haven’t really seen programs that have adapted to serve the needs of rural school districts, which often have much smaller enrollments, also may not have trained teachers, and wouldn’t have the proximity to a large urban center.
About a quarter of students in the US are rural — and the majority of school districts are rural. So any real approach to CSforAll needs to adapt to rural schools as well.
About a quarter of students in the US are rural — and the majority of school districts are rural. So any real approach to CSforAll needs to adapt to rural schools as well.
According to Change the Equation, an organization working for STEM advocacy, rural schools are the least likely to offer a computer science class. We hope this initiative can help jumpstart the computer science program at many districts.
Last year there were only 631 students in Missouri who took AP Computer Science exams (466 AP CS Java/ 165 AP CS Principles), so it is clearly not yet widely available.
Applications
Applications are open to districts looking to rural Missouri school districts looking to bring in or grow their computer science program. If you haven’t taught computer science don’t be afraid to apply — the program provides lots of support along the way. The requirements are:
- Must have buy in from a teacher
- Must have buy in from a district administrator
- Must offer the course during the school day in 2018–2019
- Teacher must be able to complete professional development course
- Administrator and guidance counselor must all be able to attend training session
Share This Opportunity
If you know schools, districts and teachers who could benefit from this opportunity please direct them to the website:
You can also follow updates on twitter at twitter.com/Code_Missouri
Bring Coding To Your State Next
If you are excited about what we are doing with Code Missouri, and want to bring a similar program to your state, contact us at hello@codehs.com.
CodeHS is a comprehensive teaching platform for helping schools teach computer science. We provide web-based curriculum, teacher tools and resources, and professional development. CodeHS curriculum includes free 6–12th grade computer science curriculum. 7,000 classrooms use CodeHS every month.
Also a thank you to Kevin Pekkarinen from Fayette High School for helping to kick start this program!
