The Effects of Expanding Computer Science in High School
In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, the importance of digital literacy can hardly be overstated. But what can schools do to help students acquire these skills? And how does access to computer courses impact students’ futures? A new working paper from researchers at the University of Maryland, including Professor Jing Liu, sheds light on this very question, offering new evidence that expanding computer science courses in high schools influences students’ choices of college majors and their earning potential once they enter the workforce.
Over the past decade, Maryland has made a concerted effort to broaden access to computer science education in high schools. Between 2013 and 2020, the proportion of high schools offering computer science courses in Maryland climbed from 80 percent to nearly 100 percent. Even more impressively, the share of high schools providing what the researchers classify as “high-quality” computer science education rose from 60 percent to over 90 percent. Although the definition of “high-quality” remains somewhat ambiguous, the trend is clear: More students are gaining exposure to computer science. The researchers utilized this unique context to explore the long-term effects of such an expansion.
The researchers identify a significant uptick in the number of students opting for these classes as computer science courses were introduced in their high schools. In 2010, less than 5 percent of Maryland students enrolled in a high-quality computer science course. By 2017, that figure exceeded 20 percent. This expansion disproportionately affected lower-income students and students of color, who were less likely to have access to computer science education in the early years of the study.
As students were exposed to more computer science course options, their college majors shifted: These students became more likely to pursue and persist in computer science majors in college. This shift, however, seemed to come at the expense of other STEM fields, which saw a slight decrease in enrollment.
One might assume that students shifting from other STEM fields to computer science would not influence student labor market outcomes, since these students might have been likely to eventually earn good incomes regardless of which STEM field they concentrated in. In fact, computer science seems to have benefited students’ later incomes. The researchers identified modest positive effects of exposure to high school computer science on employment and earnings at age twenty-four, with these benefits being particularly pronounced among female students, lower-income students, and Black students.
The nuanced findings suggest that the advantages of computer science education may extend beyond merely obtaining a degree in the field. While male students showed stronger effects in choosing and graduating with a computer science major, the positive workforce outcomes were more significant among women. This indicates that the skills acquired through computer science courses may be providing broader career benefits that aren’t solely dependent on earning a computer science degree.
The paper concludes with a cautious endorsement of the benefits of expanding computer science coursework in K–12 schools. The authors note that their findings support claims that such expansions can boost digital skills, increase the receipt of computer science degrees, and augment the supply of computer science professionals.
However, the study also raises important questions about the underlying mechanisms driving these outcomes. Are there other, unmeasured benefits of computer science education that are helping students succeed in the workforce? How do these benefits vary across different student demographics? These are questions that future research will need to address.
SOURCE: Jing Liu, Cameron Conrad, and David Blazar, “Computer Science for All? The Impact of High School Computer Science Courses on College Majors and Earnings,” Annenberg Institute, Brown University, EdWorkingPaper No. 24-904 (January 2024).
This article was published by The Thomas B. Fordham Institute.
