Today Microsoft’s General Counsel Brad Smith spoke at the Brookings Institution at an event on education and immigration reform and the presentation (and the report on which it is based) represents a huge leap forward in the effort to make computer science courses available to all high school students.
In a new groundbreaking report called A National Talent Strategy: Ideas for Securing U.S. Competitiveness and Economic Growth, Microsoft argues that it is crucial to the country’s future that there be more access to computer science in K-12 education in high schools. This report calls for a new Race to the Future that will help address the critical talent gap in computer science, not just for the high tech industry but for every single industry on the country that depends on computing for automation and innovation.
Speaking at the Brookings Institute today, Smith made a powerful and compelling argument for the key place of computer science within STEM and the link to jobs that are already going unfilled.
It is important to note that Smith and his team at Microsoft have been working with the Computing in the Core group that includes CSTA and ACM and that their passionate engagement in K-12 computer science education issues have been informed by key reports from CSTA and ACM.
I strongly encourage you to watch the Brookings Institute webcast (and perhaps play it for your students!) and to download and read this new report.
Chris Stephenson
CSTA Executive Director