{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://hurd.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/new-partnership-enhances-computer-science-education-middle-schoolers", "New Partnership Enhances Computer Science Education for Middle Schoolers", "2016-12-15", "2016", "2016-12", "Republican", "House", "TX", "Will Hurd", "H001073", "hurd.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "What was once a niche area of interest for computer \u201cgeeks\u201d is now the\u00a0lingua franca\u00a0of the global economy.\nAt a press conference at\u00a0BiblioTech\u00a0South, U.S. Rep.\u00a0Will Hurd (R-23) announced a multi-faceted partnership between his office, Bexar County, the University of Texas, school districts within his congressional district, and private partners. The initiative will provide computer science certification and training to middle school educators.\n\u201cCoding is the language of the 21st century. If you can\u2019t speak it, you\u2019re going to be left behind,\u201d Hurd said.\u00a0\n\u00a0A pilot program at BiblioTech South will take place March 23-25, 2017. Teachers can apply through Hurd\u2019s website through Jan. 31.\u00a0\nPrivate partners\u00a0Dell, Brocade, Facebook, and Intel, are already committed\u00a0to the initiative. For them, homegrown talent is a vital resource. At the press conference,\u00a0Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas\u00a0indicated that it\u00a0too wanted to sign on to help scale the initiative throughout the 23rd Congressional district.\nHurd himself has a long background at the intersection of technology and security. From his seat as Chairman of the Information Technology Subcommittee on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, he says he \u201csees the gaps\u201d in the tech sector\u2019s\u00a0human capital.\nLast year 42,000 tech jobs went unfilled in Texas. These jobs average $89,000 per year, according to Hurd. Only 2,100 students graduated with computer science degrees from Texas universities. Only 5,000 high school students took the computer science AP exam, and of those students 24% were female, less than 900 were Latino, and less than 200 were African-American.\nThose numbers are bad enough, Hurd said, and it\u2019s not enough just to focus on the jobs that exist. Technology is changing the world in such a way that kids will enter a radically different job market than their parents.\n\u201cWe\u2019ve got to do a better job preparing our kids for the jobs that don\u2019t exist yet,\u201d Hurd said.\nWith\u00a0HB 5, high school students are able to choose an \u201cendorsement,\u201d which is comparable to a\u00a0broad major. Not enough students choose the STEM endorsement. This is likely because computer science, coding, and software development\u00a0are new to them. With limited exposure they cannot make an informed choice.\nThat\u2019s why Hurd wants to focus on middle school.\nThere\u2019s another hurdle though. When UT Austin\u2019s Center for STEM Education Deputy Director Carol Fletcher counted the number of pre-service teachers graduating with computer science certifications, she found 14.\n\u201cThis is a problem we can solve,\u201d Fletcher said.\nThrough\u00a0WeTeach_CS,\u00a0Fletcher\u2019s department is multiplying the number of computer science credentialed teachers in Texas schools. The March pilot, which will also partner with web-development framework company\u00a0Bootstrap, will add 40 in Bexar County alone.\nDistricts won\u2019t have to hire new teachers, as the course will allow teachers to overlay computer science training with the necessary math and science curriculum needed to meet\u00a0state and federal standards.\nIncorporating technology into other areas of instruction will only add to\u00a0preparing students for what is ahead. Information technology has disrupted \u201cbusiness as usual\u201d in nearly every major sector, Brocade systems\u00a0engineer manager Dennis Dodd\u00a0said. Companies that have not adjusted have suffered.\nAround 60% of\u00a0the Fortune 500 companies from 1996 are no longer on the list, Dodd\u00a0said, because they have been replaced by those who have\u00a0learned to leverage technology effectively.\nIn the 2017-18 school year, Lopez Middle School in North East ISD, as well as other area middle schools, will have teachers in place who have been through the training. Superintendents from Somerset, Northside, and Southwest ISDs were all in attendance at the press conference.\n\u201cExpanding computer science opportunities down to middle school will help us build engaging and relevant technology experiences to prepare students for high school, college, and career,\u201d NEISD Superintendent Brian Gottardy said.\nLopez Middle School student Andrea Conner summed up\u00a0the perspective of many of her peers when she said, \u201cIt would be kind of hard to exist not knowing how to use a computer.\u201d\nBy that she did not mean that it would be hard to eat or breathe, but that it would be hard to navigate the world, communicate with those not in the same room, and access information. Students Conner\u2019s age\u00a0are not disturbed by the\u00a0growing dependence on computers and the ensuing vulnerabilities and security needs\u00a0\u2013 this is all they know.\nFor the students, it won\u2019t be an introduction to technology. Mobile and internet-based technology is their native environment. Knowing how to shape and lead that world is the basis for tomorrow\u2019s leaders. It is becoming a new and essential literacy.\n\u201cToday, if you\u2019re not literate in technology, along with the ability to read, you\u2019re going to have a hard time in life,\u201d Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said.\nIf tech literacy is essential to the best jobs of the future, then it is incumbent upon educators to ensure that all kids\u00a0have the tools they need to succeed. Many kids will only be exposed to this technology in a public school. Even in relatively affluent areas, coding camps, programming clubs, and other STEM intensive activity is treated as elective or extracurricular. In less-resourced homes and schools, it can be absent entirely.\n\u201cAs educators we have the moral obligation to give kids the opportunities they are not getting,\u201d Fletcher said.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://hurd.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/new-partnership-enhances-computer-science-education-middle-schoolers"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5251561999320984, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}