The computer science field drives innovations that have created entirely new economic sectors like the World Wide Web, and new technologies that are vital to daily life. Computer science education plays a critical role in providing the workforce with the skills necessary to fuel these innovations and industries.
Education policies that promote a first-rate computing and information technology workforce allow countries to compete globally in the 21st Century knowledge economy and foster technological innovation.
Issues
The information technology sector is a vibrant part of the global economy and plays an increasingly important part of US economic growth. The projected demand for computing and mathematical science graduates in the US will far outstrip the supply.
The computer science field faces a challenge in filling this need. In recent years, interest in computer science has declined at all levels of the education pipeline -- particularly among women and minorities. Consider the following (see charts in the next column):
Similar troubling trends have been reported in other countries.
Broadly increasing participation and interest in computer science is critical to creating the next generation of innovators and closing the gap between supply and demand in computing-related fields.
Mission
The Education Policy Committee will engage policymakers and the public on public policy
issues in science and math education relevant to computing and computer
science. It will focus initially on steps to ensure that computer science education is identified as a critical component of education policy in the U.S. at both federal and state levels.
The Education Policy Committee will:
- Review issues that impact science, math, and computer science education in K-12 and higher education systems
- Determine if current policies are adequately serving the computing field and recommend improvements
- Comment on proposals before governmental bodies that impact computing issues
- Educate policymakers on the role and importance of computing education
- Provide expertise on key computing and education issues to policymakers
Members
The Education Policy Committee comprises the following members:
Stacey Armstrong, AP Computer Science Teacher Cypress Woods HS
Robert D. Campbell, CUNY Graduate Center
Fred Chang, University of Texas
Joanna Goode, University of Oregon
J Strother Moore, University of Texas
Susan Rodger, Duke University
Robert Schnabel, Chair, Indiana University
Mark Stehlik, Carnegie Mellon University
Chris Stephenson, Computer Science Teachers Association
Eugene Spafford, ex officio, Purdue University (Chair of ACM's US Public Policy Committee)
John White, ex officio, Chief Executive Officer, Association for Computing Machinery
For press inquiries contact:
Virginia Gold, Public Relations Coordinator, ACM
v_gold@acm.org
+1-212-626-0505
Resources/Links
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US Information Technology and Computer Science Data:
- Annual Degree Production vs Demand
- IT's Impact on the Economy
- IT Jobs by Category
- Computer Science/Engineering Degree Production
- High School AP Computer Science Participation
- AP Computer Science Participation by Minorities
- AP Computer Science Participation by Women
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