2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Computer Science as a High School Graduation Requirement: Planning for Policy Implementation.

Presented at Pre-College Engineering Education Division (PCEE) Technical Session 3

The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications of including Computer Science as a high school graduation requirement. Over the last decade the Computer Science for All initiative has led states to consider how to embed computer science (CS) education more deeply into the core course of study for K–12 students. Many states are now at an inflection point; efforts to support the voluntary integration of computing education into the curriculum have reached saturation. To achieve greater and more equitable reach additional policy levers, such as a high school graduation requirement, are being considered. Eleven states have already created graduation requirements that include computer science. This report draws on listening sessions with nearly 200 educators, administrators, non-profit leaders, workforce development representatives, parents and students in Massachusetts and with state CS leaders and advocates across 30 states to better understand what needs to be considered when designing and implementing a mandatory CS graduation requirement including potential costs and harms. This paper explores how the requirement could be defined and supported. Important considerations include financial support, building teacher capacity, building pathways into middle schools and utilizing data to monitor and measure outcomes to ensure equitable implementation.

Authors

Rebecca Zarch http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3980-5848 SageFox Consulting Group [biography]

Rebecca Zarch is an evaluator and a director of SageFox Consulting Group. She has spent 20 years evaluating and researching STEM education projects from K-12 through graduate programs.
Paula Moore
Stacey Sexton [biography]

Hi, I’m Stacey Sexton. I am a queer, nonbinary, Socialist organizer, educator, facilitator and coach supporting individuals and teams working through conflict, deepening their understanding of and action toward social justice, and finding balance between being human and being a change agent. I have been wrestling with big questions in education in one form or another for 28 years and with formal methodological training for 10 years. I bring decades of experience organizing with issue-based activist organizations, unions, and left-wing political groups. When I’m not letting my mind wander through ideas, I’m keeping myself grounded in my community through participation in local struggles, organizing, and mutual aid work. I genuinely try to get to know the people around me. I love being in nature and I find that sitting quietly among a stand of trees is the closest I can come to sensing the divine.
Deborah Boisvert
Sabah Bhatnagar
Mx. Nicole Jessica Rees Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education [biography]

NJ Rees is the Digital Literacy and Computer Science Program Coordinator at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. As a queer, disabled educator, with a masters degree in electrical engineering from Columbia University, they work at an intersection of privilege, experience, and passion for inclusion.
Shaileen Crawford CSforMA [biography]

Shaileen Crawford is Deputy Director of CSforMA, Inc. Shay began her career as a software developer and is now a specialist in computer science education. She advocates for early, meaningful computing experiences for all students as a mechanism for improving equity and diversity in technology fields.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025

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