School Corner

lthough high school students routinely use technology—social net- working, smartphones, searches for information—their interest in courses that could lead to careers in technology is declining. The 2009 NAEP High School Transcript Study shows that the percentage of US students taking sci- ence, technology, engineering, and mathematics courses has increased over the past 20 years for all STEM disciplines except computer sci- ence, where participation dropped from 25 percent to 19 percent (http:// nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pdf/ studies/2011462.pdf). In a 2009 Com- puter Science Teachers Association survey, high school teachers reported that they were teaching 8 percent fewer CS advanced placement (AP) courses than just two years ear- lier (http://csta.acm.org/Research/ sub/Projects/ResearchFiles/CSTA Survey09CSResults_DCarter.pdf). These trends are surprising because projected job growth in IT is very strong—much higher than in all other STEM elds combined—and computational competencies are in high demand in many careers. There’s a renewed focus on K-12 STEM education at the national, state, and local levels, but computer science,for the most part, has been left out. How do we change this?

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN  US HIGH SCHOOLS?