CEOs push AI and computer science as a grad requirement
| Axios
More than 200 CEOs on Monday signed a letter urging state leaders to mandate artificial intelligence and computer science classes as a high school graduation requirement.
Why it matters: The letter follows President Trump's creation of an AI education task force to expand students' exposure to AI instruction, as aptitude with the technology increasingly becomes a workforce expectation.
- "I think of it as a K-12 experience for students, where they're learning scaffolded knowledge about computer science throughout," said Cameron Wilson, president of Code.org, which led the effort.
Driving the news: Students who attend high schools that offer a computer science course end up earning 8% higher salaries than those who don't, regardless of career path or whether they attend college, according to a report by the Brookings Institution. (The study examined the impact of giving students access to computer science classes, not of requiring them.)
- The effects are more significant for students who haven't historically been well represented in computer science fields, like women, students from lower socioeconomic status backgrounds and Black students.
- Some new computer science classes have seen higher enrollment among these underrepresented groups, according to research released last month.
- From 2009 to 2016 a Java-programming course was the only AP Computer Science class offered. The launch of a newer, more broadly focused AP Computer Science class quadrupled the female, Black and Hispanic student test takers.