Your organization is invited to join the CS4Maine a coalition to demonstrate support for providing computer science education for Maine’s K-12 students. This fall, a group of concerned organizations convened to form the Computer Science for Maine (CS4Maine) Coalition. The facts are alarming:
- 90% of parents want their children to take Computer Science classes, but only 35% of high schools offer them.
- Only 246 Maine students took the AP Computer Science exam in 2017; and only 20% of the test takers were female.
- Maine has over 1,000 open computing jobs, with an average annual salary of over $79,000.
- Maine is one of eight states that does not count CS courses toward high school graduation requirements, and one of three states that does not follow any of the nine recommendations from Code.org. is a national nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to computer science in schools and increasing participation by women and underrepresented minorities.
- Fewer than 30% of Maine K-12 schools offer computer science education. Yet, Maine students need the same opportunities as their peers in other states.
Our goal is to ensure that computer science is a subject area offered to all Maine K-12 students.
To accomplish our goal, we want Maine to meet the following objectives:
- Fund computer science professional development for teachers
- Offer computer science in all high schools by 2022
- Offer computer science learning opportunities in all grade levels by 2025
- Allow CS courses to count toward high school graduation requirements across the state
- Determine and implement appropriate K-12 computer science standards
The CS4Maine Coalition’s Steering Committee currently consists of the following members:
- Jason Judd, Program Director of Project>Login at Educate Maine
- Ruth Kermish-Allen, Executive Director of the Maine Math and Science Alliance
- Dani LaMarca, Curriculum Development Manager at Code.org
- Andrea Cianchette Maker, Partner at Pierce Atwood LLP, on behalf of Microsoft
- Alexander Price, Government Relations Specialist at Pierce Atwood LLP, on behalf of Microsoft
- Megan Sanborn, Senior Government Relations Specialist at Maine State Chamber of Commerce
This is where your organization comes in! We want to expand the CS4Maine Coalition membership to show wide community support for the goal to ensure that CS courses are offered to all Maine K-12 students. We are hoping that your organization will join this coalition, so that together we can promote the objectives and achieve the overall goal.
As a member of the coalition, your organization would agree to:
- Support the overall goal of CS4Maine
- Advocate for the listed objectives
- Allow your organization’s logo to be used on CS4Maine website (CS4Maine.org) and Position Paper
Please let us know if your organization would be interested in joining the coalition by filling out the form:
CS4Maine 