CMU CS Academy

CMU CS Academy is a free online curriculum for high school students that helps educators teach computer programming. It fills a gap between introductory computer science educational materials available for grades K-6, and the rigorous Advanced Placement courses later in high school. And best of all: it’s free!

Founded by Mark Stehlik and David Kosbie, two award-winning teaching professors at SCS, CMU CS Academy was developed in response to requests from secondary school teachers and administrators. The program includes teacher training, an online interactive textbook, online technical support and more.

Your gift to CMU CS Academy helps sustain our momentum after experiencing explosive growth: from 14 schools in 2018 to over 2,000 schools today. We expect 100,000 students to participate this school year alone. About 50% of schools are Title 1 institutions. They enroll high numbers of students from low-income families — students who might not otherwise receive access to a CS curriculum. Additionally, our resources are all available in Spanish, with the ability to toggle between languages, making this uniquely accessible for Spanish-speaking students.

This spring, we were thrilled to celebrate our milestone of reaching 500,000 students with CMU CS Academy. This Giving CMU Day, your gift will help us get even closer to our next big milestone: 1 million students within the next five years.