The marketing prowess of a Silicon Valley group is changing education
At a recent White House gathering of tech titans, Timothy D. Cook, the chief executive of Apple, delivered a blunt message to President Trump on how public schools could better serve the nation’s needs. To help solve a “huge deficit in the skills that we need today,” Mr. Cook said, the government should do its part to make sure students learn computer programming.
At a recent White House gathering of tech titans, Timothy D. Cook, the chief executive of Apple, delivered a blunt message to President Trump on how public schools could better serve the nation’s needs. To help solve a “huge deficit in the skills that we need today,” Mr. Cook said, the government should do its part to make sure students learn computer programming.
“Coding,” Mr. Cook told the President last month, “should be a requirement in every public school.”
The Apple chief’s education mandate was just the latest tech company push for coding courses in schools. But even without Mr. Trump’s support, Silicon Valley is advancing that agenda － thanks largely to the marketing prowess of Code.org, an industry-backed non-profit group.
Code.org was founded in 2012 by Hadi Partovi, an early investor in Facebook and Airbnb, and his twin brother, Ali Partovi, himself an early investor in Zappos and Dropbox. The group first gained renown by using a viral video to stir up mass demand for coding lessons. Now Code.org’s goal is to get every public school in the United States to teach computer science.
In our tech-driven world, Hadi Partovi argues, computer science has become as essential for students as reading, writing and math. “Encryption is at least as foundational as photosythesis,” he said.
Computer science is also essential to American tech companies, which have come to rely heavily on foreign engineers. Mr. Trump’s efforts to limit immigration make Code.org’s teach-Americans-to-code agenda even more attractive to the industry.
In a few short years, Code.org has raised more than $60 million from Microsoft, Facebook, Google and Sales-force, along with individual tech executives and foundations. It has helped to persuade two dozen states to change their education policies and laws, Mr. Partovi said, while creating free introductory coding lessons, called Hour of Code, which more than 100 million students worldwide have tried.
Along the way, Code.org has emerged as a new prototype for Silicon Valley education reform: a social-media-savvy entity that pushes for education policy changes, develops curriculums, offers online coding lessons and trains teachers － touching nearly every facet of education supply chain.
“They have got this multipronged approach,” said Amy Klement, a partner at Omidyar Network, a philanthropic investment organization started by the eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife, Pam, which has given $5.5 million to Code.org. “It's unique and a model I would love to see replicated.”
The Apple chief’s education mandate was just the latest tech company push for coding courses in schools. But even without Mr. Trump’s support, Silicon Valley is advancing that agenda － thanks largely to the marketing prowess of Code.org, an industry-backed non-profit group.
Code.org was founded in 2012 by Hadi Partovi, an early investor in Facebook and Airbnb, and his twin brother, Ali Partovi, himself an early investor in Zappos and Dropbox. The group first gained renown by using a viral video to stir up mass demand for coding lessons. Now Code.org’s goal is to get every public school in the United States to teach computer science.
In our tech-driven world, Hadi Partovi argues, computer science has become as essential for students as reading, writing and math. “Encryption is at least as foundational as photosythesis,” he said.
Computer science is also essential to American tech companies, which have come to rely heavily on foreign engineers. Mr. Trump’s efforts to limit immigration make Code.org’s teach-Americans-to-code agenda even more attractive to the industry.
In a few short years, Code.org has raised more than $60 million from Microsoft, Facebook, Google and Sales-force, along with individual tech executives and foundations. It has helped to persuade two dozen states to change their education policies and laws, Mr. Partovi said, while creating free introductory coding lessons, called Hour of Code, which more than 100 million students worldwide have tried.
Along the way, Code.org has emerged as a new prototype for Silicon Valley education reform: a social-media-savvy entity that pushes for education policy changes, develops curriculums, offers online coding lessons and trains teachers － touching nearly every facet of education supply chain.
“They have got this multipronged approach,” said Amy Klement, a partner at Omidyar Network, a philanthropic investment organization started by the eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife, Pam, which has given $5.5 million to Code.org. “It's unique and a model I would love to see replicated.”
But Code.org’s multilevel influence machine also raises the question of whether Silicon Valley is swaying pubic schools to serve its own interests － in this case, its need for software engineers － with little scrutiny. “If I were a state legislator, I would certainly be wondering about motives,” said Sarah Reckhow, an assistant professor of political science at Michigan State University. “You want to see public investment in a skill set that is the skill set you need for your business?”
Mr. Partovi, 44, said he simply wanted to give students the opportunity to develop the same skills that have helped him and his backers succeed. He immigrated as a child to the United States from Iran with his family, went on to study computer science at Harvard and later sold a voice-recognition start-up he had co-founded to Microsoft for a reported $800 million.
“The dream is much less accessible if you are in one of America’s schools where they don't even tell you you could go into that field,” Mr. Partovi said.
Even so, he acknowledged some industry self-interest. “If you are running a tech company,” he said,
“it's extremely hard to hire and retain engineers.”
Code.org is now one of the largest providers of free online cording lessons and more comprehensive computer science curriculums. It has also provided training workshops to more than 57, 000 teachers, Mr. Partovi said.
The rise of Code.org coincides with a large tech-industry push to remake American primary and secondary schools with computers and learning apps, a market expected to reach $21 billion by 2020.
Last year, Apple rolled out a free app, called Swift Playgrounds, to teach basic coding in Swift, a programming language the company unveiled in 2014.
Mr. Partovi, 44, said he simply wanted to give students the opportunity to develop the same skills that have helped him and his backers succeed. He immigrated as a child to the United States from Iran with his family, went on to study computer science at Harvard and later sold a voice-recognition start-up he had co-founded to Microsoft for a reported $800 million.
“The dream is much less accessible if you are in one of America’s schools where they don't even tell you you could go into that field,” Mr. Partovi said.
Even so, he acknowledged some industry self-interest. “If you are running a tech company,” he said,
“it's extremely hard to hire and retain engineers.”
Code.org is now one of the largest providers of free online cording lessons and more comprehensive computer science curriculums. It has also provided training workshops to more than 57, 000 teachers, Mr. Partovi said.
The rise of Code.org coincides with a large tech-industry push to remake American primary and secondary schools with computers and learning apps, a market expected to reach $21 billion by 2020.
Last year, Apple rolled out a free app, called Swift Playgrounds, to teach basic coding in Swift, a programming language the company unveiled in 2014.
In May, Apple introduced a yearlong curriculum for high schools and community colleges to teach app design in Swift. Apple has also supported Cord.org by hosting the group’s popular Hour of Code events in its stores.
Before Code.org emerged, the National Science Foundation, industry, and education experts worked for years to develop and spread computer science instruction in schools. In 2009, for instance, an engineer at Microsoft started a program called Teals (for Technology Education and Literacy in Schools). It places tech company volunteers in schools to help teach the subject.
Then Mr. Partovi came along with the idea of using a viral video to build mass demand for the courses.
He began by persuading Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, and Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook chief executive, to appear in a short film promoting coding to students. In its first week on YouTube, the video, called “What Most Schools Don't Teach,” racked up about nine million views. Within two years, Mr. Partovi said, about 20,000 teachers contacted him.
Before Code.org emerged, the National Science Foundation, industry, and education experts worked for years to develop and spread computer science instruction in schools. In 2009, for instance, an engineer at Microsoft started a program called Teals (for Technology Education and Literacy in Schools). It places tech company volunteers in schools to help teach the subject.
Then Mr. Partovi came along with the idea of using a viral video to build mass demand for the courses.
He began by persuading Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, and Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook chief executive, to appear in a short film promoting coding to students. In its first week on YouTube, the video, called “What Most Schools Don't Teach,” racked up about nine million views. Within two years, Mr. Partovi said, about 20,000 teachers contacted him.
