The report found that statewide, 52 percent of public high schools offered at least one foundational computer science course. The report criticized that.
"It has to be treated as a core subject like math or science or language. In an (artificial intelligence) driven world, every student needs computational fluency to navigate society," said Eli Dvorkin, editorial and policy director at the New York City-based Center for an Urban Future. The center produced the report.
In the Capital Region, high schoolers who want to get a job in computers can choose to take a course through BOCES, but it requires committing to a program that takes up half of every school day. Students who want to take Advanced Placement classes often can't fit it in, said Scotia-Glenville High School Principal Peter Bednarek.
That's why his school still offers three computer science classes. But he isn't sure that will last long.
"There is a sense that AI will replace many of the jobs done by programmers," he said.
Two sections of the classes at Scotia-Glenville fill every year. But that means most of the high school's students graduate without ever having taken a computer science class.
Dvorkin thinks every student should learn computational thinking: logical, step-by-step thinking in which students identify patterns and organize data.
"The need to ask questions and solve problems computationally is growing rapidly and students that have those foundational computational skills will be set up to be not only passive consumers of tech but active creators of it," he said.
Those who do not, he warned, will not fare well in the future job market. Although AI might handle some programming, there are still many jobs, from robotics to data analysis, that need computational thinking.
"They are going to be left behind," he said.
New York state does not require schools to offer computer science classes.
Some schools, particularly small rural schools, struggle to offer a computer science class because it means hiring a teacher who has specific skills.
In Rensselaer County, only three out of 11 public high schools offer a class. In Saratoga County, it's five of nine high schools, and in Schenectady County, three of the six high schools have a class. In Albany County, almost every high school — nine of 11 — offers a class.
Duanesburg, a small rural school in Schenectady County, recently lost its computer science teacher. There will be no computer science class at the high school this year, school officials said.
That's a common problem. Dvorkin wants to combat it by having all teachers trained in computational thinking so they can integrate it into their classes.
But, he stressed, he doesn't mean that they should squeeze more content into their tight lesson plans.
"Teachers are integrating computational thinking into social studies and science. A storytelling game teaches logic. Those opportunities don't require a whole new chunk of time to be carved out of the school day," he said. "The vision here isn't every young person should get a stand-alone computing science class."
He wants the state to appoint a director of computer science who would gather yearly data on which schools provided "meaningful exposure" to computational thinking, encourage teachers to get trained on the topic and get colleges to add it to their curriculum for new teachers. Very few colleges teach it now.
But there's still the question of whether computer science is truly a useful skill, now that AI can quickly analyze a report, create charts about the data, and even write programs based on the user's requests.
Jeff Offutt, professor and chair of computer science at the University of Albany, laughed at the question.
"As Mark Twain once said, the rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated," Offutt said. "In the 21st century, everybody needs to be computer literate."
He said it was "appalling" that only half the local high schools have at least one computer science class.
Still, he said AI will be of use — just as accountants now use Microsoft Excel to do the "boring part" of their work.
"The AI supports software developers, it does not replace them. They relieve programmers of some of the mind-numbing tedious work," he said. "They cannot supply the high-level problem-solving skills that humans have."
Besides, he said, humans are needed to make better AI programs.
"Who builds the AI programs? That will be the computer science majors," he said.
© 2025 the Times Union (Albany, N.Y.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
