Computing Education for the 21st Century | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The National Science Foundation (NSF) grant opportunity titled Computing Education for the 21st Century (CE21) is designed to strengthen computing education across the United States by building three things at once: a strong research community focused on how computing is taught and learned, a workforce ready for a computing-driven economy, and a general public that is comfortable and capable with computational ideas. The program is motivated by a clear national gap: innovation in information technology is expanding rapidly and is tightly connected to economic growth, scientific progress, and national security, yet the number of students earning computing and computing-related degrees is not keeping up with projected job demand. CE21 treats this as a pipeline problem that begins long before college, pointing specifically to the limited presence of rigorous computing in K-12 education as a major barrier to long-term growth in participation and skill development.

A central theme in CE21 is that the shortage of computing graduates is inseparable from persistent underrepresentation in the field. The opportunity explicitly highlights groups that have historically been excluded or not fully supported in computing, including women, persons with disabilities, African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and indigenous peoples. CE21 argues that meeting workforce needs is not realistic without broadening who participates, and that the country cannot afford to miss out on the talent and creativity of large segments of the population. Because many students do not encounter meaningful computing coursework early enough to see themselves in the field or build confidence, the program emphasizes earlier access, better teaching, and more inclusive learning environments as key levers for change.

Another major driver behind CE21 is the idea that computing education lacks the kind of deep, evidence-based research foundation that exists in many other STEM disciplines. The program calls for building a robust research base focused on fundamental questions such as how students learn computational concepts, what teaching strategies work best in different settings, how to measure computational learning reliably, and how to support teachers who may be new to the subject. This research is not framed as abstract for its own sake; NSF positions it as essential groundwork for creating rigorous curricula, improving instruction, and scaling successful approaches across diverse schools and communities. CE21 also makes clear that expanding access to high-quality computing in K-12 will require major investment in curriculum development, instructional materials, and teacher preparation at a scale beyond typical small pilot efforts.

CE21 organizes funding into three interconnected tracks, each aimed at a different piece of the overall challenge. The first track, Computing Education Research (CER), supports projects that develop the scientific and practical knowledge base for computing education. CER proposals can include basic research on teaching and learning computational competencies in face-to-face or online environments, the design and validation of instructional materials and assessment tools, and small-scale interventions intended to test what works for particular contexts or student populations. CER projects can focus on computational thinking taught directly in computing courses or integrated across other subjects, and they may target learners or teachers in formal or informal settings. Importantly, the eligible range spans the full K-16 pipeline, meaning projects can address elementary school, middle school, high school, or undergraduate education.

The second track, CS 10K, is aimed at catalyzing large-scale adoption of rigorous high school computing. It is tied to the broader CS 10K Project goal: bringing strong academic computing curricula into 10,000 high schools and ensuring those courses are taught by 10,000 well-prepared teachers. Proposals in this track can cover many of the practical and partnership-heavy tasks required to scale, such as developing course materials, pedagogy, and teacher methods courses; building professional development systems and sustained support for teachers; designing approaches that can expand beyond a few sites into many; identifying best practices for increasing participation among underrepresented students; and creating durable partnerships among K-12 districts, universities, and community organizations. In effect, the CS 10K track is about the infrastructure and coordination required to move computing from an isolated elective into a broadly available, academically rigorous subject in high schools.

The third track, Broadening Participation (BP), focuses directly on designing and evaluating interventions that improve engagement, retention, and learning outcomes for students from groups underrepresented in computing. BP proposals are expected to do more than outreach; they should test novel approaches and assess their impact on both participation and computational learning, helping the field understand which strategies truly work and under what conditions. NSF encourages applicants to leverage existing resources from the BPC-A (Broadening Participation in Computing Alliances) and to design interventions that, if validated, could be adopted within those alliance structures. This positions BP projects as both research-informed and implementation-oriented, with an emphasis on solutions that can travel beyond a single school or program.

From an administrative and funding standpoint, this opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number NSF 12-609) was a discretionary grant program in the Science and Technology and other Research and Development category. NSF anticipated about 20 awards, with an estimated total funding level of $15,000,000. Awards ranged from a floor of $200,000 up to a ceiling of $10,000,000, and there was no cost-sharing or matching requirement. The program was associated with CFDA numbers 47.070 (Computer and Information Science and Engineering), 47.076 (Education and Human Resources), and 47.080 (Office of Cyberinfrastructure). Eligible applicants included accredited US-based colleges and universities (including community colleges), state and local governments such as state education offices and school districts, and certain non-profit non-academic organizations like independent museums, observatories, research labs, and professional societies involved in education or research.

In terms of timeline and status, the opportunity was originally posted September 17, 2012, with a full proposal deadline of March 13, 2013 (the second Wednesday in March, annually thereafter as indicated at the time). The announcement was later archived on January 13, 2014, and replaced by NSF 14-523. Overall, CE21 is best understood as a coordinated push to expand access to rigorous computing education, professionalize and scale teacher preparation, and build a credible research base that explains how diverse students learn computational ideas, so that computing becomes a sustained and equitable part of the K-12 and higher education pipeline.

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