Across more than two dozen Fresno County school districts, Quiq Labs, a tech education company, teaches students science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics through afterschool and summer or winter break enrichment programs.
Photo courtesy of Quiq Labs
Despite decadeslong efforts through legislation, funding and advocacy, California’s schools have still not caught up with — and are falling further behind — three dozen other states in the percentage of high schools offering at least one computer science course.
According to the national 2024 State of Computer Science report, 52% of high schools across California offered computer science in the 2023-24 school year.
In other states, statewide policy has been pivotal in expanding access to computing skills for all students.
What is computer science?
Computer science, as described in the computer science academic content standards adopted by the State Board of Education, is “the study of computers and algorithmic processes, including their principles … implementation and impact on society.” Proposed legislation has included the desire for students to go beyond using technology to understand how and why those technologies work.
Assemblymember Marc Berman, for the third time, has introduced legislation to require every public high school to teach a computer science course, a mandate that will bring access to the 48% of California schools that do not offer a single class.
Because Assembly Bill 887 would require schools to implement computer science by the 2029-30 school year, it would expand access to all of California’s students in a way that initiatives have not been able to.
“Not having a requirement,” Berman told EdSource last year, “it’s not yielding the progress that our students deserve.”
The percentage of computer science classes offered statewide has increased slightly in the last 10 years because of legislation supporting standards and course development, funding for teacher training and on-the-ground efforts to address challenges in diverse communities across the state.
In 2014, legislation ordered the Instructional Quality Commission to develop computer science standards. Also, legislation established a method for computer science to satisfy graduation requirements in math.
In 2016, the state passed legislation to allow educators in other disciplines to pursue computer science certification with required coursework.
In 2018, the state adopted its computer science standards to ensure students received high-quality content in the subject.
In 2019, the governor and superintendent of public instruction appointed a committee to develop a long-term strategic plan for the state to provide computer science courses to all students. Computer science is approved to count as a science credit.
In 2021, the state budgeted $20 million to computer science: $5 million for the Educator Workforce Investment Grant, which is professional development for teachers, counselors and administrators, and $15 million for teacher certifications and a statewide coordinator.
Under the Educator Workforce Investment Grant, the state created Seasons of CS, California’s year-round computer science professional learning program.
In 2023, the California Department of Education granted $50 million to expand existing educator professional learning in math, science and computer science. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation, requiring the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing to establish a work group to develop a teacher preparation pathway for computer science to boost the number of qualified course teachers.
For two consecutive years, a bill similar to AB 887 failed to come out of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which considers the fiscal impact of proposed legislation.
According to the Appropriations Committee’s analysis of the 2024 bill, about 425 school districts would have had to purchase instructional materials and provide professional development to teachers at an unknown cost. The Department of Finance opposed the bill because implementation would cost $50 million to $73 million in ongoing funding from Proposition 98.
In 2023, Berman’s first iteration of the bill requiring all high schools to teach computer science stalled, in part, because of a lack of teachers, CalMatters reported.
The state has, since 2016, invested more than $1.2 billion to address the state’s teacher shortage, including nearly $100 million for computer science teacher training. In 2021, $20 million was allocated to computer science in the state budget: $5 million for the Educator Workforce Investment Grant for professional development of teachers, counselors and administrators and most of $15 million for certifications of educators in other disciplines.
Efforts across California have supported thousands of educators.
For example, the Small School Districts’ Association, through a nearly $4 million federal CS4NorCal grant, has provided intensive summer workshops for nearly five years as well as ongoing training, coaching and networking throughout the year for educators in small and rural school districts in six Northern California communities of Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Shasta and Siskiyou counties, said Kathy Hamilton and Karen Mix, director and co-director for the grant.
As a result, teachers have integrated computer science into agriculture, communication, media, digital literacy, math, science and general education classes, electives and clubs.
A Redding teacher rotates between five schools to make sure students have access to computer science at least once a week. Middle school teachers have added computer science to their schools’ elective wheels for students to rotate through.
Collaboration between regional and statewide organizations focused on computer science as well as partnerships with local entities that can support program growth and development have also been critical in increasing the number of qualified teachers and expanding access, advocates say.
In the 2018-19 school year, Modoc County high schoolers had no access to any computer science courses, but numerous nonprofits and community organizations have over the last few years participated in training opportunities to better collaborate in the development of computer science. The nonprofit Advancing Modoc, which eventually began leading the implementation, recruited tutors and other staff to support the initiative. Some educators have since integrated computer science into core content classes and offered elective courses.
The professional development, which included year-round training, has led teachers to provide computer science classes, merge concepts into other subjects or offer lessons through electives or clubs.
Even with robust professional development, some challenges persist, particularly the reluctance or inability of administrators to include computer science courses in school offerings.
“In the past, teachers were reporting back to us in our research, I need support from my administrator to make sure that computer science gets on the master schedule, that we are providing more classes to reach more students,’” said Julie Flapan, an educator and researcher leading two initiatives to expand access and participation in computer science.
Amy Pezzoni, computer science teacher at Modesto City Schools, told EdSource last year that passionate teachers are not enough.
“You need admin to support you. You need the district to be on board with you,” she said, noting the importance of a legislative mandate.
Computer science advocates statewide and nationally have recommended a legislative mandate to bolster California’s efforts and increase access to the course.
Since 2013, the Code.org Advocacy Coalition, an organization of over 100 nonprofit, advocacy and industry groups across the country, has made policy recommendations for states to “address the urgent need to build capacity in computer science education,” including statewide policy.
“Strong policies, supported by resources, action, and implementation, are key to building the capacity needed to improve student access, participation, and experience in computer science education,” according to the national computer science report, which the coalition authored.
Legislation requiring schools to offer computer science has been implemented in states such as Arkansas, where all high schools offer computer science, and in neighboring Nevada, where 96% of the state’s high schools offer the course, based on the 2024 report.
Alabama also passed legislation in 2019, phasing in the computer science requirement, starting with high schools, followed by middle and elementary schools. This has resulted in an increase from 57% in the 2019-20 school year to 94% this past school year in the rate of high schools offering computer science and more than 90% of middle and elementary schools teaching computer science.
Akin among Arkansas, Nevada and Alabama is the adoption of the recommended policies and actions by the Code.org Advocacy Coalition.
Although California has implemented most of the policy recommendations — a state plan, state position, funding, K-12 standards, certification programs and allowing it to count for other subjects — the state has not created programs at higher education institutions to encourage aspiring teachers to gain exposure to computer science; nor has it required all schools to offer the course or mandated it as a graduation requirement.
Due to the policy recommendations and the state, regional and local efforts, there’s been a double-digit percentage increase of high schools offering computer science since the 2018-19 school year — still far from the national average of 60%.
In both the 2023 and 2024 national computer science reports, the authors encouraged California to require all high schools to offer at least one computer science course, “as it would greatly help support the 48% of high schools that currently do not offer any (computer) science courses.”
The 2025 legislative attempt to do so passed out of the Assembly Education Committee and was referred to the Appropriations Committee in late March.
If computer science courses become a requirement, some schools, such as small, rural schools, will have a harder time offering computer science because of a teacher shortage. Often, educators are already teaching multiple grades and/or subject areas on top of other duties.
Integrating, or merging computer science into another subject area, may be the best short-term solution to providing the content to students, especially when semester- or year-long courses aren’t offered, said Kathy Hamilton, who works for the Small School Districts’ Association.
“Integration needs to be one of the delivery mechanisms if you want to truly provide access for all students around the state,” she said.
And it will be.
Aware of the unique challenges that some schools face, the legislation acknowledges the need for a course requirement to offer some flexibility. It would require the state’s computer science coordinator to develop an implementation guide that includes “varied computer science course options to best meet local capacity and context,” including computer science concepts being integrated or merged into other subjects.
And thanks to federal and statewide funding and advocates’ regional and local efforts, there are now scores of teachers trained and ready to teach or integrate computer science. Whether that is enough to compel the Legislature to require all schools to teach computer science is unknown.