Governor Asa Hutchinson announced Monday a dramatic increase in the number of high school students enrolled in computer science classes in Arkansas. The newest numbers from the Arkansas Department of Education show an increase of 1,527 students, bringing the total enrollment number to 5,500 students for 2016-2017 school year with 1,027 students taking more than one course. That’s an increase of 38.4 percent over the 2015-16 school year (3,973 students enrolled) and an increase of 39.8 percent over the 2014-15 school year.
A closer look at the numbers reveal a sizable increase among key demographics, including a 49 percent increase in the number of females enrolled and a 34 percent increase in the number of minority students enrolled.
In 2015, Hutchinson set a four-year goal of seeing at least 6,000 high school students enrolled in a computer science course each year. As a way of promoting computer science education around the state, the governor recently completed his second annual computer coding tour of Arkansas high schools.
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