Computer Science in High School Graduation Requirements: 2016 Update

With many states focused on strengthening high-quality, scalable and sustainable STEM education policy, Education Commission of the States is bringing awareness to this important issue by dedicating September to SepSTEMber. Throughout September, Education Commission of the States will release two new reports and several blog posts, and host a #ECSSTEM Twitter Chat.

This Education Trends report, Computer Science in High School Graduation Requirements, is an update to a 2015 report and explores state policies that allow or require districts to apply computer science coursework toward completion of high school graduation requirements in math, science or foreign language.

“As more states seek to encourage high school students to take computer science courses, allowing these courses to complete a math or science credit for high school graduation is one approach to increase education opportunities for students interested in pursuing a career in a STEM related field,” said Jennifer Zinth, director of High School and STEM at Education Commission of the States.




Some key takeaways from this report:

• Allowing high school students to fulfill a math or science high school graduation requirement via a computer science credit may encourage more students to pursue computer science coursework.
   
• Twenty states require a computer science credit to be allowed to fulfill a math (or in some states, science) graduation credit, while three states permit, but do not require, computer science credit to fulfill a math or science credit. Code.org has identified additional states that authorize such course substitutions, but that have not established them in statute or regulation.

• Many states place additional requirements on the computer science credit so that it may substitute for a traditional math/science course, i.e., the course must be an advanced computer science course.