‘An amazing opportunity for us to reach beyond campus.’ Stanford brings CS 105 to high schools

From 2021 through 2024, more than 1,100 students from under-resourced high schools have enrolled in the Stanford course CS 105: Introduction to Computers. This innovative educational effort was launched by Patrick Young, a Stanford computer science lecturer who has taught CS 105 to Stanford undergraduates on campus for more than 20 years. Working with Stanford Digital Education and the nonprofit National Education Equity Lab, Young has brought this college-credit-bearing course to Title I high schools nationwide, from Brooklyn to the San Fernando Valley, from Miami to Honolulu. The goal is to help create new pathways to college. In this video, Young talks about how such a rigorous course can enable high school students to thrive. He is joined by a teacher and the principal at Birmingham Community Charter High School in Los Angeles, who describe how the course has strengthened their students’ confidence and sense of what is possible – a point echoed by two students in the course and by the Stanford undergraduate, Varun Madan, who serves as a CS 105 teaching fellow for the Birmingham students.

Learn more about Stanford courses for under-resourced high schools.