Funding, Grants & Awards

Microsoft Program Pushes CS Team-Teaching

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 09/22/15

It's the giving season for Microsoft, and schools are, as usual, at the top of the receiving list. The company announced a three-year $75 million commitment to expand access to computer science education for young people.

Among the major initiatives to benefit will be TEALS, Technology Education and Literacy in Schools, a Microsoft program that matches teachers with technology professionals to team-teach computer science. A major goal for TEALS is to help instructors learn the computer science coursework so that they can teach it on their own within two years.

Last year the company said it would reach 131 schools with the program. Over the next several years it intends to expand that outreach to 700 schools, which will gain access to 2,000 tech industry volunteers.

"Computer science is a foundational subject — like algebra, chemistry or physics — for learning how the world works, yet it's offered in less than 25 percent of American high schools," said Microsoft President Brad Smith. "We need to increase access to computer science and computational thinking for all students, especially those from diverse populations, by partnering across the industry and with teachers and schools to turn this situation around and change the paradigm for developing a more diverse tech talent pipeline."

The company is also maintaining its support for YouthSpark Hub, which provides self-service resources for students to learn more about computer science, and Microsoft Imagine, a Web resource that provides students with programming tools, instructions and competitions.