Exposing California’s Computer Science Opportunity Gap

Today, across the nation, tens of thousands of students will take the Advanced Placement Computer Science (AP CS) exam with dreams of pursuing computing careers. This exam is a critical step in the path toward entering computer science as a field of study and a profession. One might expect that in California, home of Silicon Valley’s rapidly-expanding technology industry, just about every public high school would offer introductory and advanced computer science courses. Unfortunately, this is far from the case….

The report, Path Not Found: Disparities in Computer Science Course Access in California High Schools, illustrates the disconcerting statistic that California public high schools with the highest populations of underrepresented students of color are half as likely to offer computer science courses than schools largely composed of White and Asian students (populations already disproportionately represented in the computing sector, as demonstrated in recently released diversity data from myriad technology firms). Read more.