Reports

Bridging the Computer Science Ed Gap: Five Actions States Can Take

In the global labor market, computational thinking skills and knowledge of computer science are required in nearly all career fields. What’s more, jobs in computer science, information technology (IT) and related fields represent a large and growing sector of the economy. By 2020, as many as 4.6 million out of 9.2 million jobs in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields will be computer-related, according to the Association for Computing Machinery.

2016 America Fixed Broadband Report

The maximum advertised download speeds amongst the most popular service tiers offered by ISPs have increased from 12-30 Mbps in March 2011 (when the program first launched) to 100-300 Mbps in September 2015. These increases are not uniform across access technologies and have been driven primarily by the cable industry, with smaller increases in fiber based systems. Average DSL speeds have increased only slightly over these years and satellite speeds, over a shorter time interval, have remained constant.

High-Tech Nation

The purpose of this report is to shed light on just how widely diffused the country’s innovation-driven, high-tech economy really is, so members of Congress and other policymakers can find common cause in advancing an agenda that builds up the shared foundations of national strength in a globally integrated marketplace.

The Digital Lives of African American Tweens, Teens, and Parents

The data presented here are from a large scale, nationally-representative survey of African American youth (ages 11 to 17) and their parents, supplemented and informed by a series of ten focus groups with African American parents and youth across the country (for more information on the demographics of the survey and focus group samples, please see the Methodology).

A Roadmap for US Robotics

The 2016 report is a 100-page tome packed with specific, technical recommendations that the contributors believe will be important for Congress to fund and support as robotics starts to take center stage across U.S. industries.

Federal Agencies Release Brief on Tech Use for Early Learners

“The early learning community has been wisely cautious about using technology with our youngest children,” said Libby Doggett, deputy assistant secretary for Policy and Early Learning at the Department of Education. “But technology, when used appropriately with caring adults, can help children learn in new ways–and lessen the growing inequity in our country.”

K-12 Computer Science Framework

The influence of computing is felt daily and experienced on a personal, societal, and global level. Computer science, the discipline that makes the use of computers possible, has driven innovation in every industry and field of study, from anthropology to zoology. Computer science is also powering approaches to many of our world’s toughest challenges; some examples include decreasing automobile deaths, distributing medical vaccines, and providing platforms for rural villagers to participate in larger economies, among others.

Trends in the State of Computer Science

The findings in this report present positive growth in the area of CS with more principals reporting in Year 2 than in Year 1 that their school offers a CS class with programming or coding. Additionally, the study shows that key concepts, including computational thinking (CT), are being incorporated into classes.

Regional Opportunities in the U.S. for Clean Energy Technology Innovation

These events brought together members of Congress, governors, other federal, state, tribal, and local officials, academic leaders, private sector energy leaders, DOE officials, and other stakeholders from economic development organizations and nongovernmental organizations to examine clean energy technology innovation from a regional perspective.

Patenting Prosperity

This report examines the importance of patents as a measure of invention to economic growth and explores why some areas are more inventive than others. Why should we expect there to be a relationship between patenting and urban economic development? As economist Paul Romer has written, the defining nature of ideas, in contrast to other economic goods, is that they are non-rival: their use by any one individual does not preclude others from using them.