A Bad Report Card for Computer Science Education in Minnesota | Twin Cities Business

This is an abysmal report for computer science education in my home state of Minnesota.

According to the 2022 State of Computer Science Education report by nonprofit Code.org, Minnesota ranked dead last in the nation for the percentage of public high schools offering foundational computer science courses. Just 21% of public high schools in the North Star State offer such courses, according to the report, which was released late last month.

Wait, it gets worse. Minnesota still hasn't even declared that some level of computer science is necessary to graduate.

Minnesota is also among the states that don’t require high schools to even offer computer science courses. In total, 27 states now require their high schools to at least offer the classes.

I’m lucky to serve on the board of the Minnesota Technology Association which is led by Jeff Tollefson, who is quoted extensively in the article. There are three main areas the organization is focused on, and this is one of them. However, there needs to be much more awareness of how poorly our state is doing and a push from parents and industry to drive this as a priority.