Currently, twelve states in the US are phasing in requirements for students to complete a computer science course before graduating high school. Should Ohio become the 13th state? That is what a pair of bills in the Ohio Statehouse are proposing to do.
Earlier this month, for the first time in Ohio’s history, the education committees in the Statehouse opened this up for debate. Their decisions will affect Ohio’s students and the task of running school districts for decades to come.
Nearly all adults now have either a personal web page or an organizational website to deal with, so it seems pretty obvious to me that having at least some training in computer science would be a good thing for every kid.
Even in a world where AI can code for you, students who know even a little bit about computer science will attempt things — practical things! — with AI tools that students without computer science training would never try; things like building an app for their family business or modifying the firmware on farm equipment.
What would it take to implement a computer science graduation requirement?
In 2022 the Ohio legislature commissioned the State Committee for Computer Science to grapple with this question.
The Committee’s State Plan for Computer Science was upbeat but it included data showing that only about 1 in 7 Ohio students were completing a computer science course before graduating high school.
The report also mentions that we only have about 1,000 computer science teachers in Ohio.
So by the report’s own data, we would need an additional 6,000 computer science teachers to implement a computer science graduation requirement statewide, a staggering number.
Although legislators are known for their unfunded mandates, in this case they actually have set aside significant funds and issued significant grants to institutions in Ohio to expand teacher training programs in two most recent biennial budgets.
I should disclose that my employer, Ohio State University, received some of these funds in order to start a new computer science training program which will start this summer.
Will it be enough?
The sponsors of the Senate bill think so, and cite the gradual timeline, but I worry whether the bill gives schools enough flexibility in implementation.
The bill commissions the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce to write up a comprehensive list of courses that satisfy the requirement.
However, it is unclear in the bill if two popular high school math courses that include computer science content — courses called discrete math and data science — should be on that list.
Ohio is actually a national leader in developing math courses like these and there are far more math teachers than computer science teachers.
I think discrete math and data science will play a far bigger role in helping schools meet the new requirement, if it passes, than anyone realizes.
The bills should get more hearings before going up for votes so there is still time for people to share their thoughts with their representatives.
For example the new requirement would potentially reduce the number of students taking advanced math, physics and foreign language because of legislation passed during the Kasich administration that allows computer science to substitute for these subjects.
Perhaps the requirement should be a half year instead of a full year, in response to some of the difficulties that other states have encountered.
Ohio Senate Bill 326 and Ohio House Bill 594 are here and they may end up on the governor’s desk before you know it.
Chris Orban, Ph.D., is a computational plasma physicist and education researcher at Ohio State University serving the Marion and Columbus campuses. When speaking on education policies, his opinions are his own and not any of the organizations that he serves. Orban earned a BS in physics in 2004 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Ph.D. in physics in 2011 from Ohio State University.