Courtesy of Oakland Unified

A Fremont High student in Oakland learns computer programming during the Hour of Code activity.

Courtesy of Oakland Unified

A Fremont Loftier student in Oakland learns computer programming during the Hour of Lawmaking activeness.

The Oakland Unified School District and nonprofit Code.org announced Wednesday that they are trying to increase multifariousness in the tech workforce and bring Oakland into the limelight as an emerging tech­ hub through a partnership that aims to bring figurer scientific discipline to every school in the district over the next two years.

The ambitious plan was unveiled during a packed ceremony at Fremont High School in Oakland, where students learned that their school is receiving a $10,000 grant from Lawmaking.org in recognition for its participation in the "60 minutes of Code" action that takes place each year during Computer science Pedagogy Week, which is Dec. seven­-thirteen this year.

"I don't think nosotros need to go to Silicon Valley," said Oakland Unified Trustee Roseann Torres. "I think we need to bring Silicon Valley to Oakland."

She said manytech jobs could go unfilled by Americans if students such as those in Oakland Unified don't starting time learning computer science. Currently, less than 2 percent of Oakland and San Francisco students are enrolled in informatics courses, co-ordinate to Oakland Unified.

Last year, Fremont High didn't take whatever computer scientific discipline classes, said Principal Pamela Watson. This yr, the school offers two computer scientific discipline courses, along with an Information technology course sponsored by Cisco, she said.

Starting early on next year, the commune plans to identify nearly 100 elementary teachers and xx middle schoolhouse and high school teachers who will implement calculator science programs in 2016-­17. Past the second year of the partnership, all schools are expected to offer estimator science education.

"Oakland is the first Bay Expanse school commune to partner with Lawmaking.org to expand informatics at all form levels," said Hadi Partovi, CEO of Code.org. "We are excited for Oakland to join many of the largest school districts in the The states which share a delivery to providing all students with the opportunity to learn computer science and access the best opportunities bachelor to them in the 21st century."

The Hour of Code

Courtesy of Oakland Unified

Hadi Partovi, CEO and founder of Code.Org, watches Fremont High students in Oakland participate in the Hour of Lawmaking.

State Board of Education president Michael Kirst and trustee Trish Williams said they hope to learn from the partnership as California looks to aggrandize estimator science educational activity statewide. But Kirst said that won't be piece of cake due to a instructor shortage and the need for curriculum materials.

"Nosotros're looking to y'all to aid us understand what to practise, how to spread it and how to implement information technology," Kirst told students. "It's a systemic change."

Williams said she became passionate about providing admission to reckoner science to all students afterward she constitute out how few girls and students of colour take computer courses in high schoolhouse or major in the field in college.

"It was stunning," she said, adding that figurer scientific discipline is the "engine of our economy" in California. She noted that informatics jobs are creative, pay well and don't ever require four­-year college degrees.

"In particular, I am excited almost this partnership in Oakland," she said. "You are the pioneers in the Bay Expanse for districtwide implementation."

Nationwide, but 22 percent of students taking the Advanced Placement Informatics exam are girls, 9 percent are Hispanic and iv percent are black, according to Code.org, which aims to boost those numbers.

Oakland City Council members Abel Guillen and Annie Campbell Washington said the informatics partnership could help students effect positive changes in the city.

"Nosotros accept loftier expectations," Guillen said. "We need you to be successful because we demand Oakland to exist successful."

"You all have special gifts," Campbell Washington told students, adding that the partnership is also a gift to the district. "I promise you lot're going to use those amazing gifts to brand something cute happen for Oakland, for our community and for our world."

Before the ceremony, Oakland Unified Superintendent Antwan Wilson said the district expects to consider making computer science a graduation requirement in the futurity. Student Maria Guzman, 17, said she has enjoyed creating games based on nursery rhymes, besides as videos, in her computer scientific discipline class this twelvemonth.

"Information technology got me to recall about the commands and problem­ solving," she said. "I really like the claiming. That's really what got me."

Fremont High students in Oakland participate in The Hour of Code.

Courtesy of Oakland Unified

Fremont High students in Oakland participate in the Hour of Code.

Starting next yr, students in high schools participating in the partnership will be able to accept a new Advanced Placement grade called Computer science Principles, which has been piloted at 50 campuses across the country, including Oakland Technical High. Lien Diaz, senior director of AP Programs for the Higher Board, said another states crave students to take information science to graduate and several allow it to count as a math or science requirement. In California, however, the course is currently counted as an constituent.

The Information science Principles course, she said, is a more broadly focused class than the AP Information science class currently offered in schools, which teaches students to program in Java. The new class, she said, will include ciphering with information, considering the global impacts of computing, and programming.

Both the College Board and Code.org offer professional development for educators interested in teaching the courses, she said.

Mitch Kapor, of the nonprofit Kapor Center for Social Impact, which is helping to provide computer science opportunities to Oakland students, said the tech world needs Oakland to help diversify its workforce. And Oakland needs tech to bolster its economy.

"The problem," he said, "is that while genius is evenly distributed by zip code, opportunity is not."

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