Arkansas Governor Pitches Computer Science Plan for Schools

Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Tuesday that his initial goal of at least one computer science course in each school is intended to be a starting point, with plans to grow taking shape already, and that the Computer Science Task Force has voted to make the Arkansas Department of Education responsible for development and implementation of a full computer science curriculum to be offered statewide. “So it will go beyond the computer coding classes we’re offering next year to a comprehensive development of K-12 education in the computer science field,” said Hutchinson.

Gov. Hutchinson said more than 1,300 students have signed up through Virtual Arkansas to take computer coding classes when school resumes after the summer break, with the number of coding students to go even higher once schools report how many signed up through their classrooms.

The governor set a goal of 6,000 students in computer science classes in Arkansas by the fourth year of implementation. He said the first year numbers, not only of students taking the courses, but of teachers signing up to teach the classes and schools lining up to offer the courses to students, shows the demand for such courses is there.