It’s been just over 5 years since the summer of 2014, when Code.org hosted our first workshop and began our journey to prepare America’s teachers to begin teaching computer science as part of the school day.
Over the years, we’ve shifted gears many times — from hosting workshops directly, to building a team of facilitators, to hosting national TeacherCons, to growing a network of partners, to helping international partners replicate our work.
Today, we have incredible news to share: five years into this journey, the Code.org network of partners and facilitators have collectively prepared over 100,000 computer science teachers!
Together, these 100,000 teachers will teach CS to millions and millions of students — from Kindergarten through 12th grade — block-based programming, web design, cybersecurity, app making and so much more. Many of these students will go on to study computer science in college, join the tech workforce and maybe even start their own companies!
Just this past summer, more than 60 partners and more than 700 facilitators prepared almost 19,000 teachers through more than 200 workshops to bring CS Fundamentals, CS Discoveries and CS Principles to their classrooms.
This work is thanks to more than 60 organizations, such as Nextech in Indiana, led by Karen Jung, or AdvanceKentucky in Lexington, led by Monique Rice, and dozens more around the country. We also want to thank our more than 700 facilitators, who make the workshops enjoyable, engaging and informative from beginning to end. Many facilitators have been leading workshops for years, and some have prepared thousands of teachers to bring CS to their classrooms.
“My absolute favorite part [of leading workshops] is the connection that I make with the educators,” said Kim Lane, who has been a Code.org facilitator in Texas since 2014. “I have trained over 3,500 educators and have seen many of these educators become facilitators. I love working with adults and bringing the most reluctant educators to gain confidence in teacher computer science. I love what I do!”
Finally, it’s also thanks to our many generous donors who help financially support our Professional Development program, including Infosys Foundation USA, Vista Equity Partners, PwC, Salesforce, Pluralsight One, and General Motors.
Here’s just some of what teachers around the country had to say about the workshops they attended this past summer:
“It was awesome! It was definitely one of the best professional learning experiences I’ve had. The facilitators did such a great job of modeling instructional strategies. I have a teacher training to facilitate this summer for our new teachers, and I plan on implementing some of the facilitator strategies I saw this week. So, I got way more than I anticipated (strategies as a teacher AND a trainer). Thank you!” — A teacher from a CS Discoveries workshop in Louisiana
“Our facilitators did an excellent job. Their expertise was very insightful and will be very useful as we launch our Code.or AP CSP course(s). The hands-on approach was fabulous. It kept us engaged and wanting more.” — A teacher from a CS Principles workshop in Alaska
“This has been the most engaging workshop I’ve ever attended! It was a blast, thanks to the awesome facilitators. You guys rock!” — A teacher from a CS Discoveries workshop in Texas
We did this together as one team, united by the vision that every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer science. This work will change the lives of millions, from Alaska to Florida, from urban Los Angeles to rural Appalachia mountains. The impact will be felt for decades to come.
Please join me in celebrating our shared accomplishment, and spread the news on social media: Share on Facebook. Share on Twitter.
Thank you all,
Hadi Partovi, Code.org
