Boosting computer science education is key to developing Virginia’s growing tech sector
The speakers (from left to right):
Chris Dovi is the executive director and chief policy advocate for CodeVA, one of the largest and most successful state-level programs for computer science K-12 educator support/training and policy advocacy. He co-founded the organization with his wife, Rebecca, in 2013. He serves as a member of Virginia's STEM Advisory Board. He successfully advocated for what became the first state to mandate computer science as a compulsory, foundational literacy subject for every Virginia child.
Julie J. Brown serves as GO TEC’s interim project director and vice president of advanced learning at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research in Danville. She is responsible for providing talent development programs, aligned with economic development interests, which build the region’s STEM capacity and talent pipeline. In addition to leading the institute’s GO TEC initiative, she also oversees the AmeriCorps programs and the EmPOWER system to increase work-based learning opportunities.
The growth of digital industries is changing the face of the future workforce, who will need to be well-versed in tech skills and digital literacy. Workforce training for Virginia’s tech talent pipeline needs to start long before college.
CodeVA brings computer science education to Virginia’s K-12 schools and develops programs to train teachers. The Great Opportunities in Technology and Engineering Careers, also known as GO TEC, is expanding its workforce training program into additional schools and school districts across Virginia including the Richmond and Hampton Roads regions.
The programs are critical steps in expanding highly skilled tech talent pipelines in the state. The programs also are part of an effort to increase the number of college graduates in computer science and related fields that will help expand workforce and talent pipelines in growing digital industries.
In 2016, the Virginia legislature passed a law that made Virginia the first state in the country to include computer science as a mandatory part of the curriculum in all public schools.
CodeVA, founded in 2013, is the state-funded program to support school districts in building infrastructure needed to teach K-12 computer science literacy. CodeVA works with students, school districts, teachers, parents, communities, and policymakers to bring computer science education to all Virginia students.
The organization was founded with the principle of equitable opportunity and access to computer science literacy for all students in Virginia. CodeVA offers free professional learning for Virginia public school educators, education professionals, and school districts to implement the computer science SOLs.
GO TEC is a program administered by the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research in Danville that builds strategic talent pipelines from K-12 to higher education. Starting in middle school, GO TEC engages students in career connection labs using hands-on learning in high-demand career pathways such as precision machining, welding, IT and cybersecurity, robotics and automation, mechatronics, and advanced materials. These students continue skill development during high school through career and technical education programs.
A grant from GO Virginia will help push the GO TEC framework into additional schools across Virginia including GO Virginia Region 4 (Central Virginia/Richmond region) and Region 5 (Hampton Roads). GO TEC started as a pilot program in 2018 in Danville and Pittsylvania County.