Are Teachers and Schools Ready to Accept Computer Science as a Graduation Requirement?

Abstract

Recent policies across the United States support rigorous high school computer science courses acting as flex credit courses. This allows the courses to count as graduation requirements in lieu of traditional mathematics or science courses. In this study, 457 teachers in high schools that had not yet adopted flex credit policies indicated school readiness and personal beliefs regarding counting computer science as a mathematics or science requirement. Tangible first-order barriers (e.g., appropriate curriculum) were greater hurdles than intrinsic second-order barriers (e.g., beliefs). Other notable findings included viewing computer science counting as a mathematics requirement more favorably than as a science requirement; science teachers being least positive about computer science as a core requirement; and school socioeconomic status and enrollment size not being correlated to perceptions.

Keywords::

• computer science
• graduation requirement
• school readiness
• secondary education
• teacher beliefs

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Additional information

Author Notes

Eugene Judson is an associate professor of science education and educational policy at Arizona State University. His research focuses on the intersection of educational policy and STEM education. Please address correspondence regarding this article to Eugene Judson, Farmer Education Building, 444F, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA. E-mail: [email protected].

Kristi Glassmeyer is a doctoral student at Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University. Her research engages the intersections of science education and organizational structures of K-12 educational institutions for the purposes of assessing policy implementation and educational change.