New York City’s public schools have made dramatic progress in expanding access to computer science education. Eight years after the launch of the Computer Science for All initiative, at least 91 percent of district schools now offer classes where students can start learning the principles of computing.

But while more schools are offering computer science than ever before, the majority of city students—in particular, Black and Hispanic students, low-income students and girls—still aren’t taking computer science courses. Just 17 percent of schools meet the program’s student participation and equity goals.

In this op-ed, Council Member Rita Joseph and CUF's Eli Dvorkin argue that to ensure that thousands more New York City students can get on the path to well-paying technology-powered careers, the city will have to train thousands more of the city’s future teachers to integrate the core concepts of computing education into their classrooms. The city can start by investing in a promising new program at the City University of New York, the Computing Integrated Teacher Education (CITE) program, which trains future teachers to use computing concepts in a broad range of subjects, from social studies to science, and at every grade level.

Read the full op-ed here.

This op-ed builds on previous CUF publications on ensuring low-income and New Yorkers of color can enter the growing tech-powered workforce, including Expanding on CS4All: Training NYC’s Future Teachers to Integrate Computing Education, "Mayor Adams, it’s time to level up K-12 computing education across NYC," and "Tech Jobs in the City are Growing; Here’s How to Make Sure New Yorkers Can Fill Them."