The Research Alliance for New York City Schools at New York University has been officially selected to evaluate the implementation process of the Computer Science for All (CS4All) initiative that aims to bring computer science education to all city students in less than ten years.

"The nine-year evaluation, funded through $5 million in CS4All grants to the Fund for Public Schools, will answer important questions about the implementation and impact of CS4All for students, schools, and teachers in New York City,” said NYU in a statement.

In order to determine the successfulness of the initiative to educate students in computer science, Research Alliance will measure the short- and long-term effects on student achievement. Further, the research will determine how the efforts are affecting the participation of groups that are frequently underrepresented in STEM. 

"This work will include a focus on understanding the varied experiences and outcomes of different groups of students, particularly those who are typically underrepresented in computer science and other STEM fields (e.g., girls, students of color),” said NYU in its statement.

In late September, the New York City Department of Education announced that a year after its first announcement of the initiative, it was on track to meeting its goals by 2025.

Mayor de Blasio, Chancellor Carmen Fariña and Gabrielle Fialkoff, Senior Advisor and Director of the Office of Strategic Partnerships announced in September that the city was half-way towards its goal of raising $40 million in funding, had already placed computer science education in 246 schools and had trained over 450 teachers.

By 2025, the city hopes to have computer science in all of its 1,700 public schools and 5,000 teachers trained with the necessary skills to make this possible.

”[M]any of these students will be prepared to fill the 200,000 additional technology jobs that New York City’s employers will create over the next decade while all graduates will be equipped with soft skills needed to successfully navigate the 21st century economy,” said the Office of the Mayor in a statement in September.

Nicole Gorman, Senior Education World Contributor

10/31/2016