Computer Science to Become a Graduation Requirement

Students who entered high school this year, and going forward, will now be required to complete a computer science course as a graduation requirement. This is a part of the G.S.115C-12(9d) amendment that was signed into North Carolina law on September 29, 2023.

This will not increase the total number of credits necessary to graduate, but reduce the number of necessary elective credits by one. 

All public schools in North Carolina will be required to offer a computer science course by the 2026-2027 school year to abide by this amendment. Principal Taylor believes that Jordan will soon adopt the AP Computer Science A course–which focuses on software design and development using the Java programming language–to pair with the AP Computer Science Principles course that is already offered at Jordan.

Principal Taylor saw this as an effort by North Carolina to have a more competitive course load for college applications in the increasingly STEM-focused world today. She also believed that many schools would have trouble finding qualified teachers to teach this new requirement, which may lead to students struggling in the courses.

Taking an art course will also soon become a graduation requirement. Currently, students must complete two arts, CTE, or world language courses in any combination. Because of this recently passed amendment, students will have to complete at least one arts course to meet the graduation requirements.

Middle schools will also be able to offer computer science and arts courses that will fulfill the course requirements. Counselor Ms. Ramos states, “our district was looking into doing it in the middle schools, but I think it is going to be in the high schools.”

Principal Taylor also spoke of North Carolina hoping to turn Math 1 and Math 2 into two-semester courses, which she believes will “slow many students down.” Ms. Ramos added to that by saying Foundations of Math 2 will soon not be an option to pair with Math 2, leaving only Foundations of Math 1 and Foundations of Math 3.

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction looks to keep up in the quickly changing world that we live in. At the moment, it still seems uncertain if this will be a worthwhile addition to the course requirements. It is likely Jordan will have to find several new teachers in the next few years to keep up with this new law.