Code.org Taps No-Code Tableau To Make the Case For K-12 Programming Courses

theodp writes: 'Computer science education is a necessity for all students,' argues tech-backed nonprofit Code.org in its newly-published 2024 State of Computer Science Education (Understanding Our National Imperative) report. 'Students of all identities and chosen career paths need quality computer science education to become informed citizens and confident creators of content and digital tools.'

In the 200-page report, Code.org pays special attention to participation in 'foundational computer science courses' in high school. 'Across the country, 60% of public high schools offer at least one foundational computer science course,' laments Code.org (curiously promoting a metric that ignores school size which nonetheless was embraced by Education Week and others).

'A course that teaches foundational computer science includes a minimum amount of time applying learned concepts through programming (at least 20 hours of programming/coding for grades 9-12 high schools),' Code.org explains in a separate 13-page Defining Foundational Computer Science document. Interestingly, Code.org argues that Data and Informatics courses -- in which 'students may use Oracle WebDB, SQL, PL/SQL, SPSS, and SAS' to learn 'the K-12 CS Framework concepts about data and analytics' -- do not count, because 'the course content focuses on querying using a scripting language rather than creating programs [the IEEE's Top Programming Languages 2024 begs to differ].' Code.org similarly dissed the use of the Wolfram Language for broad educational use back in 2016.

With its insistence on the importance of kids taking Code.org-defined 'programming' courses in K-12 to promote computational thinking, it's probably no surprise to see that the data behind the 2024 State of Computer Science Education report was prepared using Python (the IEEE's top programming language) and presented to the public in a Jupyter notebook. Just kidding. Ironically, the data behind the 2024 State of Computer Science Education analysis is prepared and presented by Code.org in a no-code Tableau workbook.

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