Maryland Computing Education Growth From 2011–2016

Abstract

Nationally, computing education is growing at a rapid pace. Barriers to equitable implementation of computer science (CS) high school classes include the lack of CS teachers, funds, and political support [3]. A grassroots effort in Maryland has focused on increasing computing education access from kindergarten through high school, and recently established the Maryland Center for Computing Education (MCCE). To understand the growth in computing education, we analyzed the demographics of Maryland public high school graduates, economic differences between the local education agencies (LEA) and the workforce within each county, and the perceptions of Maryland high school CS teachers. Although each subgroup of public high school graduates taking at least one CS class has increased, the rates of increase vary across gender, race, and ethnic subgroups. The LEA economic differences reflect the current dominant industries and overall wealth within each LEA. Finally, Maryland high school CS teachers’ perceptions of students taking CS in high school are consistent with the increases reported by the state.