Code.org
Working to give every student in every school the opportunity to learn computer science
Overview
What they do
Just like every student should have the chance to learn biology, chemistry or algebra, Code.org wants to ensure they have the opportunity to learn computer science (CS).
Mission: Code.org is dedicated to expanding access to computer science in schools and increasing participation by women and underrepresented minorities.
Why we love them: Since its launch, 15 countries, 44 U.S. states and over 120 U.S. school districts have worked to expand access to CS as part of K-12 curriculum. Their AP Computer Science Principles course launched with record participation by diverse students. Over 800,000 teachers globally have begun teaching computer science classes to over 29 million students. 2,270,944 girls have attained basic coding proficiency from Code.org since January 1, 2016, and their Hour of Code initiative has surpassed 600 million hours served. Perhaps most importantly, 45% of students participating in Code.org’s platform are female and 48% are underrepresented minorities.
Our partnership
Partnership and impact
Together, we are focused on deepening opportunities for girls and underrepresented minorities in technology to access computer science education and continue their technology skills development beyond the classroom.
The partnership includes a multi-year cash investment, ongoing collaboration around the Pluralsight One product, state and national advocacy, and efforts to engage the Pluralsight community in support of Code.org’s goals through targeted skills-based volunteerism.
Product offering:
High school Computer Science Principles students can build on the skills learned in Code.org’s AP and non-AP Computer Science Principles courses with free access to Pluralsight to advance their future through technology. Pluralsight has created a curated course offering for these students that maps to Code.org curriculum and national standards. Curated by expert technologists and Code.org’s curriculum team, the library features over 150 courses totaling over 500 hours of content across four major areas: IT/OPs, software development, design/creative and product management. Link for teachers to learn more and access the offering.
Grant:
Pluralsight One Fund is providing a $1.5 million grant to Code.org over three years. The investment is focused on enabling Code.org to grow their resources for teachers and students, continue to develop curricula across K-12, expand their efforts to retrain America’s K-12 teachers to teach computer science, scale impact through their network of regional partners, and debunk misconceptions about computer science through their annual Hour of Code campaign.
Pluralsight One Fund is also supporting Code.org’s international expansion to translate and localize the entire Code.org learning platform, curriculum, videos and tools into 20+ languages; develop and support offline and smartphone access for schools without internet connected computers; and expand their network of global partners to drive teacher training and implementation in local schools.
Leadership and volunteerism:
Pluralsight One and Code.org collaborate to expand access to computer science education for all students across the state of Utah and nationally. Building on those efforts, Pluralsight One and Code.org will deepen their work with regional partners to implement programming and resources in response to identified priorities, gaps and needs. Link to page on CS in Utah efforts and to Code.org Utah fact sheet page (https://advocacy.code.org/). Through the partnership, Pluralsight will also mobilize employees to volunteer through skills-based volunteer initiatives.
Strategy
To carry out Code.org’s goals of reaching all students, they are working across the education spectrum by:
- Developing curricula with a pathway of engaging and accessible introductory courses across K-12: CS Fundamentals for grades K-6, CS Discoveries for grades 7-9, and AP CS Principles for grades 9-12. Code.org is the largest provider of CS curriculum globally, and courses are recommended by 99% of surveyed teachers.
- Retraining America’s K-12 teachers to begin teaching CS: over 80,000 teachers have attended Code.org professional learning workshops to date.
- Establishing a national network of regional partners to support local and regional expansion of K-12 CS programs: 64 regional partners to date
- Helping change policies to increase support for computer science at the state and national levels: policies changed in over 40 states.
- Marketing to break stereotypes of what computer science is, particularly through the global Hour of Code campaign that reaches tens of millions of students each year.
impact snapshot
Code.org goals, metrics and accomplishments to date:
- 46% of Code.org students are girls, 48% are underrepresented minorities, and 47% of U.S. students are in high needs schools. Read more about their approach to diversity.
- 99% of surveyed teachers recommend the Code.org intro CS curriculum.
- 1,175,241 teachers have signed up to teach our intro courses on Code Studio and 40,108,832 students are enrolled.
- They've prepared more than 87,000 new teachers to teach CS across grades K-12. Learn about our professional learning programs.
- 13,294 young women have passed the AP CS Principles exam and 8,595 URGs in 2019-20 Code.org classrooms.
- They've partnered with 180+ of the largest school districts to add CS to the curriculum. These districts teach almost 10% of all U.S. students and 15% of Hispanic and African American students.
- Policies changed in 48 U.S. states to establish CS education standards, make CS courses count towards high school graduation, etc.
- Their courses are available in over 63 languages, used in 180+ countries.