A new coalition has formed with the mission of getting computer science taught in every Maine K-12 classroom by 2025.

Computer Science for Maine (CS4Maine) is made up of the following organizations: Educate Maine,   Microsoft, the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance, the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, and Code.org. Its creation was announced last week at Educate Maine’s 2018 Education Symposium in Portland. Since launching last week, the coalition has increased to 39 members.

Basic computer science skills will be an increasingly important requisite for future workers, yet fewer than 30% of Maine’s K-12 schools offer computer science education, according to CS4Maine.

Meanwhile, computing occupations are the number one source of all new wages in the United States and make up 58% of all projected new jobs in STEM fields, according to Code.org, a national organization that provides teacher training and curriculum to increase CS education in K-12 schools throughout the country.

“Whether you want to become an accountant, a doctor, a lawyer, a politician, you wouldn’t not study biology because you’re going to become a lawyer. You still learn the basics about everything, and learning computer science and coding is about as foundational a skill you can learn in the 21st century,” Hadi Partovi, founder of Code.org, said in a recent interview with Recode.

Maine currently has more than 1,000 open computing jobs with an average annual salary of over $79,000, significantly higher than Maine’s average salary of $45,300, according to Code.org. Salaries from these job openings total $85,377,720 each year.

“Ensuring all Maine K-12 students have access to high quality computer science education is a critical priority for expanding educational opportunities and growing Maine’s workforce,” said Jason Judd, director of Educate Maine’s Project>Login program. “With the right investments to achieve our goals, more students will be exposed to knowledge and skills relevant to the high-tech world around them, potentially leading to lucrative jobs that Maine employers in every sector are looking to fill. This benefits Maine people, employers and our state’s economy.”

The challenge Maine faces is that while the majority of people—including parents, school principals, politicians, etc.—recognize the importance of introducing computer science curricula into K-12 classrooms, it’s training the teachers to provide that education that provides the largest hurdle. Coalition members are already trying to address that issue by offering teacher trainings using Code.org’s curriculum. Case in point: There’s a CS Fundamentals class for K-5 teachers being held Jan. 12 in Bucksport.

Other data points CS4Maine will seek to improve include the fact that only 23 Maine high schools offered an AP Computer Science course in the 2016-17 school year. In 2017, 246 Maine students took an AP Computer Science exam, fewer than any other STEM subject area, according to CS4Maine.

Maine is only one of ten states that does not count computer science courses toward high school graduation requirements, and one of only four states that does not follow any of the nine recommendations from the Code.org Advocacy Coalition.

CS4Maine’s five key objectives to ensure computer science is a subject area offered to all Maine K-12 students are:

  • Fund computer science professional development for Maine teachers.
  • Offer computer science in all Maine high schools by 2022.
  • Offer computer science learning opportunities in all grade levels by 2025.
  • Allow computer science courses to count toward high school graduation requirements in schools across Maine.
  • Determine and implement appropriate K-12 computer science standards.