Tom Still: Early computer science education vital to continued growth

DES MOINES, Iowa — When representatives of North America’s state and provincial technology associations gathered last week in Iowa, the conversations ranged from analyzing data to building partnerships to speculation on when Big Tech’s balloon might lose some air — a forecast quickly followed by the Facebook and Twitter stock drops.

If there was a topic that dominated the conference in Des Moines’ reborn downtown, however, it was how to keep America’s talent pipeline filled.

Leaders from technology councils across the United States and Canada were aligned over the need for more trained workers to fill tech-based jobs, mostly because the demand for skilled workers continues to outstrip the supply.

Reforming the U.S. immigration system to allow more trained workers to stay in the states after earning college degrees or certificates is one solution, but it’s unlikely to be implemented in a national election year in which sharp divisions are evident.

A longer-term answer, many agreed, is elevating the importance of computer science education — not only in U.S. colleges and universities, but in middle and high schools when the chances of capturing the imagination of young students is much higher.

Sean Roberts, a Wisconsin-based advocate for that approach, told members of the Tech Councils of North America that while computer science is driving growth in most economic sectors, it has yet to emerge as a priority in most of the nation’s schools.

Roberts, a former teacher who is director of state and government affairs at Code.org, said 44 of 50 states have adopted policies to give high-school students access to computer science courses. A much smaller number of states have extended such policies to include elementary and middle schools.

The real problem, he said, is execution. Policies alone won’t get the job done.

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