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Microsoft supports White House initiative to expand access to computer science

Today, President Barack Obama called for a new national effort to give all American students the opportunity to learn computer science in school – in short, Computer Science for All. As a company, we at Microsoft support the president’s call to action, and we hope that leaders in both parties will use 2016 to find common ground and make this opportunity a reality for the nation’s students.

As a company, we’ve made access to computer science education a top business, public policy and philanthropic priority. Our employees founded Technology Education and Literacy in Schools, or TEALS, an effort that now enlists tech employees to teach computer science in 170 schools and 18 states. It has provided us with a first-hand view of both the challenges and the benefits of expanding computer science education. Over the past three years we’ve used our voice, along with many others, to encourage 17 states to change their laws to recognize computer science as a course that now counts towards high school distribution requirements.

In addition, we were a founding member of Code.org, which has reached over 65 million American students through its Hour of Code and trained more than 1,400 middle and high school teachers. And we recently announced an additional $75 million commitment through Microsoft YouthSpark to increase access to computer science.

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