Daniel Prince
South Carolina is second only to Maryland in the percentage of high schools offering computer science
The 2022 State of Computer Science Report spotlighted South Carolina’s achievements in computer science education. South Carolina is second only to Maryland in the percentage of high schools in the state offering computer science, at 93%. 95.8% of SC high school students attend a school that offers foundational computer science, and 25.7% of students are enrolled in a computer science course. Of those, 46.9% are female. Officials note that more girls are taking computer science courses in South Carolina than in Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana combined. The code.org Advocacy Coalition recommends nine policies that states adopt, and South Carolina has adopted seven so far and is working on the 8th, which is creating a state plan for k-12 computer science. The state has already defined computer science and established rigorous K-12 computer science standards; allocated funding for computer science teacher professional learning; implemented clear certification pathways for computer science teachers; established computer science supervisor positions in education agencies; required that all high schools offer computer science; allowed a computer science credit to satisfy a core graduation requirement; and allowed computer science to satisfy a higher education admission requirement. The state averaged 6349 open computing jobs each month this year so far. The jobs have an average salary of $77,383. In 2019, there were only 806 graduates in computer science. State Superintendent Molly Spearman received an award during the September CSEdCon, which is a national computer science education summit. She was recognized for South Carolina’s work to promote and advance computer science education.