Celebrating Computer Science Education Week (#CSEdWeek)

Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, the Bureau of Labor Statistics was predicting a national growth in the IT sector of 557K new jobs by 2026. This expectation is not being met due to workers lacking the fundamental technical skills needed in nearly every industry to keep up with workforce demands. NAF is stepping up to fill these gaps between education and the workforce.  

We are excited to be celebrating CSEdWeek this December. CSEdWeek is an annual call to action to inspire K-12 students to learn computer science, advocate for equity, and celebrate the contributions of students, teachers, and partners to the field. The first week of December each year is filled with events and activities to engage students in computer science activities. 

From December 6-12, 2021, in partnership with Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) and SAP, NAF will participate in this year’s CSEdWeek with an array of activities. This year’s theme – #CSEverywhere – highlights the impacts of Computer Science (CS) on different subjects, industries, career paths, and our everyday lives. CS unlocks mysteries in math and medicine, and it creates art, our phones, the internet, and our favorite games, movies, and TV shows.  

Each day, NAF will release activities to engage learners in critical thinking and problem-solving exercises and inspire them to embrace CS everywhere and every day. These resources will be available on NAF’s Future Ready Learning website. 

NAF’s CS Lineup: 

To encourage learners to participate in the daily CS activities and submit their projects, they will have the chance to win a $100 gift card (the educator of the winning learner will also receive a $100 gift card). 

Thank you to SAP, our industry partners, and NAF alumni for volunteering to engage learners by sharing videos on the impact CS has on their work and some resources and activities to stretch our knowledge and skills. 

In addition to NAF’s programming, NAF partner Accenture is hosting an Hour of Code event during this week. The Hour of Code is a worldwide effort to celebrate computer science, demystify “code”, and broaden participation in the field by showing that everyone can learn the basics. 1400 NAF students have registered to participate. 

All activities are open to NAF students of all themes. NAF serves over 30,000 students in 18 states plus DC in Academies of Information Technology, which focus on careers in tech. 98% of seniors graduate with 87% are college-bound.  

Learn more about NAF’s Academy of Information Technology here.