Computer Science in California Schools: An Analysis of Access, Enrollment and Equity
The CS for CA Coalition, lead by the Kapor Center, released its CS for CA report this summer. The report provides an overview of the landscape of K-12 computer science education in California, including where courses are offered, which students enroll, and where there are disparities by race, socioeconomic status, gender, and geography. Key findings include:
- Less than half (39%) of the high schools in California offer any computer science courses, and just 14% offer Advanced Placement CS A
- Low-income schools are 4x less likely to offer AP CS A than high-income schools and high-URM schools are 3x less likely to offer AP CS A than low-URM schools
- Just 3% of the 1.9 million high school students in California took a CS course in 2017.
- Black, Latinx, and Native American/Alaskan Native students comprise 60% of California’s high school population but just 16% of AP CS A test-takers (n=1,907).
- Just 1% of AP CS test-takers in California are Black (n=479 students).
- Just 36 Black girls and 453 Latinx girls took AP CS A.
