Examining the State of CS Education in Virginia's High Schools
Chris Rhoton · 2018
Virginia House Bill 831 (2016) put the state on a path toward K-12 Standards of Learning that include computer science (CS) at all levels. Accompanying the initiative is an effort to define the "State of the State['s]" current CS offerings. The author examined course offerings at 251 of the state's 320 high schools to determine how accessible on-site CS courses were across the state. The results indicate a significant disparity between school systems located in rural communities and small townships when compared with suburban/city locales. Perhaps more striking was the emerging connection between the region where one lives in the state and that individual's access to (or lack thereof) in-person CS instruction. The results also suggest fewer than half the schools in Virginia are running a CS class as of spring 2017 when the study was conducted.