ACM Partners With Code.org to Expand K-12 Computer Science Education
New York, NY (PRWEB) July 31, 2013 -- The ACM partnership with Code.org is aimed at ensuring that every K-12 student in the nation has the opportunity to study computer science as a rigorous discipline that includes some serious exposure to programming, systems, languages, and computer architecture. As part of this alliance, Cameron Wilson, ACM Director of Public Policy, was named Chief Operating Officer of Code.org on an interim basis.
“Reforming K–12 education to incorporate serious computer science seems vital to producing an informed public that has a deeper appreciation for the power of computing than video games and social networking,” said ACM President Vinton Cerf. He noted that computer science education will enable students to be better prepared for the projected 1.5 million job openings in computing-related fields over the next ten years.
Cerf added that ACM has been pursuing an initiative to make computer science acceptable as a core science along with mathematics, physics, biology, and chemistry. “The discipline of writing and debugging software, of creating simulations or interactive applications has the potential to draw many into the profession, or at least to provide even more with a sense of the core role computing is playing and will play in the decades ahead.”
In addition to the ACM partnership with Code.org, the non-partisan advocacy coalition Computing in the Core (CinC) will merge with Code.org. CinC was founded by ACM in 2010, with support from several other partners including the Computer Science Teachers Association, Microsoft, Google, and the National Center for Women and Information Technology. The joint organization will assume responsibility for organizing the annual national Computer Science Education Week, held this year December 8-14. CSEdWeek was first launched by ACM in 2009 and has been held each year since.
“Code.org’s goal is to ensure that every K-12 student in the US has the opportunity to study computer science,” said Hadi Partovi, CEO and founder of Code.org. ACM is a known leader of the computer science community and has made a major contribution by partnering with Code.org, lending key staffing support, and supporting our merger with CinC. We’re excited to be working together to change education policies and grow cultural awareness in support of widespread computer science education. We are building a strong executive team to deliver on the community’s vision for the future of computer science education. ”
About ACM
ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery http://www.acm.org, is the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting computing educators, researchers and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources and address the field’s challenges. ACM strengthens the computing profession’s collective voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence. ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities for life-long learning, career development, and professional networking.
Virginia Gold, ACM, http://www.acm.org, 212-626-0505, [email protected]
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