By James Maroney
State Sen., District 14
James Maroney.
The beginning of the school year is an exciting time. It’s a clean slate and an opportunity for our state’s youth to better themselves academically and socially.
Another exciting development this school year is the addition of computer coding curricula at all of our state’s public schools. This is legislation I authored and led passage of this session, and I am confident it best positions our students for success.
According to TechNet Northeast, a bipartisan network of over 80 technology companies, computer science is a foundational skill for 21st century jobs and impacts almost every industry in the U.S. In manufacturing, financial services, cybersecurity, health care, law, construction, tech and beyond, possessing this knowledge is a necessity for the modern employee.
I started working on this legislation in November 2018. While working on this bill, I enlisted the opinions and expertise of industry experts, education experts, and other stakeholders to piece together a bill which enables our students to thrive in an ever-changing economy growing more reliant on computer science. I also wrote this bill with the intention to provide educators with the tools to prepare our students.
This law makes Connecticut the first state in the country to require that teacher preparation programs offer instruction in how to teach programming and coding to their existing computer and information technology skills curricula. Additionally, it requires the State Department of Education to create an endorsement and eventually a certification in teaching computer science. Through this law the Office of Higher Education, in collaboration and consultation with the State Department of Education, will also develop an alternate route to certification program for computer science teachers. The program must include mentored apprenticeships and program admission criteria.
For students, this law includes discussion of science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, and computer coding jobs in student success plans. It also requires the state Department of Economic Community Development to help facilitate internships for college students with companies in our state, and to perform an analysis of the workforce needs in our state, working with other relevant agencies to develop a plan to prepare our workforce.
This legislation is advantageous for our state’s youth, and also our economy. Back in 2017, Connecticut’s tech industry contributed $16.2 billion to our state’s economy, according to computerscience.org. As the tech trade continues to flourish, tech companies flood our state, and computer science skills become even more coveted by businesses, job opportunities requiring this expertise will grow in Connecticut. In fact, in early September a New Jersey-based IT services firm announced it has plans to hire hundreds of employees to work in its new innovation center in Hartford. Computer science knowledge and skills are essential.
This law was one of my priorities going into the 2019 legislative session and during my campaign. Seeing this legislation through to passage was incredibly rewarding due to the positive impact it will have on our schools, students, teachers and economy.
When parents send their children off to school each morning, they do it knowing their little ones will come back wiser individuals and be closer to making their dreams become reality. This law bolsters our youth’s chances of achieving their dreams by providing them with the tools to prosper in a 21st century economy.