School is officially back in session.
To kick off the new school year, Microsoft hosted the 2014 Silicon Valley Leadership Group’s annual Education Summit on our Silicon Valley campus. The summit brings together local leaders from the nonprofit community, academia, government and private sector to discuss critical issues in our educational ecosystem, and to engage in conversations about regional initiatives, innovative programs and game-changing policies.
We heard an opening keynote from KIPP Foundation President and CEO Richard Barth and a closing keynote from Harvey Mudd College President Dr. Maria Klawe. Dr. Klawe’s message was straightforward:
“Increasing the number of female computer science graduates is both imperative and simple. But it takes will.”
Dr. Klawe and her team were able to increase the number of young women graduating from Harvey Mudd with a computer science degree from 10% to 40% by actively adjusting the curriculum to be relevant to their target audience.
Lori Forte Harnick, general manager, Citizenship and Public Affairs, represented Microsoft on the panel session titled “Paving the Way for a 21st Century Workforce,” alongside peers from Adobe and Symantec who are also looking to create opportunities for students through technology education. As Lori put it:
“With the YouthSpark initiative, we are aiming to reach millions of youth around the world. There are many young people who face a digital divide. Through the progress we’ve made and insights we’ve learned, Microsoft is doubling down on technology education for all.”
And, as we tweeted:
Fact: 120k #CS jobs, 70,000 filled a yr. That’s 50,000 jobs that go unfilled by American graduates. It’s time to close the gap. #SVEdSummit
— MSFT Silicon Valley (@MicrosoftSV) September 12, 2014
TEALS in California
Across America, there is an increasingly recognized crisis: the jobs of the future include a computer science component, but 90% of U.S. students don’t have access to computer science classes. This is a complex issue that Microsoft is tackling on multiple levels, including policy reform, nonprofit partnerships and curriculum development. Additionally, we have launched a growing program called TEALS (Technology Education And Literacy in Schools) program, a YouthSpark initiative that places software engineers directly into high schools across the U.S. to teach basic and Advance Placement computer science courses to students, to help address the urgent need to jumpstart computer science education in the K-12 years:
- In the United States, we have doubled the TEALS program to place volunteer computer science teachers in 131 high schools across 18 states and the District of Columbia.
- Of all of the regions TEALS supports, California has seen the most growth over the past year, more than tripling from 10 schools to 35 schools statewide, with 25 here in the Bay Area.
We are thrilled to partner with so many companies to bring our technology education and literacy education in to schools. We’re seeing a growing demand from students, parents, teachers, governments and nonprofits, to teach youth not only how to use technology, but also how to create technology. This enables them to become the true innovators in their communities and sets them up for success in the future.
