There is so much momentum around the need for more computer science education in the country’s schools, and many organizations in addition to CSTA are now working toward getting more computer science teachers in more elementary, middle, and high schools. While there is no doubt that there is much happening in Washington, DC, at state and local education agencies and in state capitals on these issues, there is arguably some confusion about what is and isn’t or has or hasn’t happened this year.
So, here is a timeline that explains the constantly shifting surface that is CS education advocacy at the national level.
June 12, 2013
After months of pressure from the education advocacy community desperate for a revision to the current version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) formerly known as No Child Left Behind, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee passed a bill to revise the 11-year old law that included computer science-friendly provisions. It was passed via a partisan vote, although Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) and the Ranking Republican, Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), both said they hoped that a robust floor debate, including open amendments, later in the year might produce a bill that would win bipartisan support.
June 19, 2013
The House Education and the Workforce Committee approved an ESEA reauthorization package that was very different from the Senate bill approved the week before. The Student Success Act (HR 5), which was also approved on a party line vote, reflects a more conservative role for the federal government in K-12 education and does very little to support any specific subject or group of teachers, including computer science and computer science educators.
June 27, 2013
Representatives Susan Brooks (R-IN), Jared Polis (D-CO) and others introduced legislation that addresses the urgent need for more computer science education in the country’s K-12 classrooms. The Computer Science Education Act (HR 2536) would strengthen computer science education by changing federal education policies to support providing access to computer science in the country’s elementary, middle, and high schools.
July 18, 2013
In a rare moment of bipartisanship, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly supported a computer science amendment to legislation that would reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Proposed by Representatives Susan Brooks (R-IN) and Jared Polis (D-CO), the amendment would improve K-12 computer science education policies by clarifying that computer science educators should have access to the same supports as their colleagues. (This amendment’s provisions are different from those of the Computer Science Education Act.)
July 19, 2013
The House passed the Student Success Act after a very partisan debate, and only via a partisan vote. The bill includes the amendment approved the day before that clarifies that the bill’s professional development programs would support computer science teachers.
August 1, 2013
Senators Robert Casey (D-PA) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) introduced legislation that addresses the urgent need for more computer science education in the country’s K-12 classrooms. The Computer Science Education and Jobs Act (S 1407) would strengthen computer science education by changing federal education policies to support providing access to computer science in the country’s K-12 schools. The bill is larger and more detailed than the House bill, but its goals are similar.
While June and July were very busy months for CSTA, Computing in the Core, and computer science education advocates, since then, not much has happened. For those who remember Schoolhouse Rock and the “I’m Just a Bill” episode, you know that the House and Senate have to approve the exact same version of a bill in order for it to be sent to the President and signed into law. That hasn’t happened to the Computer Science Education Act, the Computer Science Education and Jobs Act, or the amendment that would help computer science educators that was included in the Student Success Act.
Despite the pause in momentum, it is worth noting and celebrating that together, these actions represent a shift in the profile of K-12 computer science issues in education policy debates in Washington. Practically speaking, however, you are probably wondering what’s next. The Senate needs to pass its ESEA reauthorization bill and still could do so before the end of the 113th Congress, which runs through the end of 2014. Then, the House and Senate would have to conference their two bills, which means try to bridge their significant differences to develop a single version of the bill that both chambers could pass and send to the President. Then, the President would have to sign it.
While the ESEA reauthorization process limps forward, CS advocates are pursuing a separate strategy on HR 2536, which amends the definition of core academic subjects to add computer science, defines computer science and makes a modest change to professional development provisions to clarify that CS educators should be supported. CSTA members and others can help. How? By asking their House representatives to cosponsor HR 2536. The bill has about two dozen cosponsors as of the middle of October, and needs 100 more to get the attention of leadership and force some action on K-12 computer science education policy. Ready to write to your Member and asking him or her to cosponsor the bill? Computing in the Core has pulled together the resources to help you do that.
Della Cronin
CSTA Policy Consultant
Note: Computing in the Core is a non-partisan advocacy coalition of associations, corporations, scientific societies, and other non-profits seeking to elevate the national profile of computer science education in K-12 within the US and work toward ensuring that computer science is one of the core academic subjects in K-12 education. CSTA is a founding Member of Computing in the Core.