The Impact of Expansion in Secondary School Computer Science Education on Student Major Attainment and Labor Market Outcomes

Abstract

The field of computer and information technology has grown and continues to grow at a pace unmatched by other fields. This has led to increased attention by policy- makers to prioritize the expansion of computer science education in K-12. This e!ort was spearheaded by U.S. President, Barack Obama through his “Computer Science for All” initiative through which he allocated billions for the states to develop K-12 computer science education with an emphasis on educational equity. Using an event study di!erence-in-di!erences framework, I investigate the impact of the state poli- cies requiring computer science classes be taught at every public high school, passed largely in the wake of this initiative, on student major attainment and subsequent labor market outcomes. I find that expansion in CS access does not significantly af- fect the share of CS degrees attained nor the wages of early career associate’s degree graduates. This is in line with prior work and suggests that CS access a!ects student outcomes in so far as it induces students to take CS courses in high school.