More than 5.5 million jobs are going unfilled across the U.S., and employers say a major reason for the big number is the difficulty in finding qualified workers – many of which lack high-tech skills. More than 1 million jobs were available in professional and business services alone in March, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

A new report encourages schools at all levels to make so-called STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) fields a higher priority.

“Despite surging demand, computer science education is only just beginning to gain traction in U.S. school systems,” says the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. “Policymakers should expand access to rigorous, high-quality courses in both high school and college.”

The ITIF says its analysis has found that “too few U.S. students are taking quality computer science classes at the high school and university levels” to meet demand. And it’s calling for efforts to “support and maintain the groundswell of interest in computer science and capture the economic and social benefits that will come from fostering a more highly skilled workforce.”

“Computer science is the most important STEM field for the modern economy, but it is not even represented in the acronym, and it is the discipline that the fewest high school students study. It is encouraging that the number of high school students taking AP computer science has more than doubled in recent years, from about 20,000 in 2010 to almost 50,000 in 2015. But that figure pales in comparison to the number of students taking AP calculus—and in California, there are still more kids taking ceramics,” said Adams Nager, an ITIF economic policy analyst and the the lead author of the new report.

“We need to shift perceptions of computer science,” Nager added. “We should stop treating it as a fringe, elective offering, or just a skills-based course, and start viewing it as a core science on par with more traditional subjects like biology, chemistry, and physics. Universities also need to expand their course offerings to accommodate growing demand for computer skills among both students and employers in all sectors of the economy.”

Findings in the report include:

  • Only half of states count computer science as a math or science credit rather than an elective, and the majority (29 states) do not have computer science teacher certification programs.
  • The computer science Advanced Placement exam represents only 1.1 percent of all AP exams offered, has the largest gender disparity of any AP exam, and underrepresents minority students. In fact, only 22 percent of students taking AP computer science are female, less than 10 percent are Hispanic, and less than 4 percent are black.
  • High school students take five times more AP biology exams than AP computer science exams; they take nine times more AP calculus exams; and they take 20 times more AP English exams.

Universities are not keeping up with demand, either. The report cites two challenges:

“First, computer science, like most STEM-concentrated degrees, costs more for schools to provide than majors in the liberal arts or social sciences.

“Second, universities and colleges often face resistance from within when they try to change departments’ size and number of course offerings to reflect students’ demand for a particular major, especially if such efforts are not met with a growing student body for the university.”

Report’s recommendations

The authors make several recommendations on how to deal with the challenge

  • Reform curricula for existing technology classes to focus on core concepts of computer science in primary and secondary schools;
  • Allow computer science to count as either a math or science requirement in high school;
  • Teach computer science in all high schools;
  • Increase the number of qualified computer science teachers by providing resources to train and recruit;
  • Establish more STEM-intensive public charter high schools; and
  • Create incentives for universities to expand their offerings in computer science and prioritize retaining students interested in majoring, minoring, or taking courses in the field.

Read the report at:

https://itif.org/publications/2016/05/31/case-improving-us-computer-science-education