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Coding and AI classes in Colorado

What do Colorado's computer science standards cover, and do schools have to teach them?

The 2024 Colorado Academic Standards for Computer Science, adopted by the State Board in May 2024, run from kindergarten to high school in six strands, including AI from second grade and cybersecurity. Districts may choose whether to adopt them. Modern Age Coders teaches those same skills live online for Colorado students, in level-matched batches or 1-on-1.

Colorado did something unusual with computer science. Its standards are the only ones in the state that districts are free to skip: the law that created them made them voluntary. Yet the 2024 revision reaches far, with an artificial intelligence strand that starts in second grade and a full cybersecurity strand. This page sets out what the Colorado Department of Education publishes about those standards and about graduation, the access figures as reported, a state park trails project that teaches students to draw an honest histogram, and how classes fit around Mountain Time.

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Facts last verified 18 October 2026. Teaching is online; no Colorado branch is claimed.

Course picks for Colorado

Courses mapped to Colorado's six strands

Each covers at least one strand of the 2024 standards. A teacher confirms the right one in a first lesson that costs nothing.

AI Literacy for Kids (Ages 8 to 14) course thumbnail
Grades 2 to 5

AI Literacy for Kids (Ages 8 to 14)

How computers learn from examples, the heart of the second grade AI expectations, taught with hands-on activities.

See the syllabus
 Python for Teens course thumbnail
Grades 6 to 10

Python for Teens

Typed code for the Computer Programming strand, ending in data projects such as the trails histogram.

See the syllabus
 Cybersecurity for Teens course thumbnail
Grades 8 to 12

Cybersecurity for Teens

Defensive security, passwords, threats and recovery, the territory of the Cybersecurity strand.

See the syllabus
 AI and Machine Learning for Teens course thumbnail
Grades 9 to 12

AI and Machine Learning for Teens

Train and test real models in Python, with the limits of AI discussed as seriously as its uses.

See the syllabus

Browse the course atlas for more than one hundred options and use the coding roadmap to check prerequisites.

The four we are known for

Python, AI, vibe coding and agentic coding

These run underneath everything above. Every one is live and online, placed by ability rather than by age, and the first class is free.

Vibe Coding for Teens course thumbnail
Vibe codingAges 13 to 17

Vibe Coding for Teens

Python, web and AI projects where the learner still owns the thinking.

See the syllabus
 Python Automation Course course thumbnail
Python and AICollege and adult

Python Automation Course

Automate the work you already do, then let AI carry part of it.

See the syllabus
 AI and Machine Learning for Teens course thumbnail
AI and MLAges 14 to 18

AI and Machine Learning for Teens

Train a model, read what it learned, and be able to say why it is wrong.

See the syllabus
 Codex & Claude Code course thumbnail
Agentic codingProfessionals

Codex & Claude Code

Run AI coding agents on real work without losing control of the codebase.

See the syllabus
The 2024 standards

Six strands, kindergarten to twelfth grade, adopted May 2024

From the Colorado Academic Standards for Computer Science (adopted 2024), published by the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) and read on 17 October 2026.

The six strands of the 2024 Colorado computer science standards, as CDE describes them
StrandWhat CDE says it covers
1. Computational ThinkingUsing algorithms and data in different ways to generate new knowledge and articulate solutions to real problems
2. Computing Systems and NetworksHow software and hardware communicate, and systems thinking around data protection and recovery
3. Computer ProgrammingDesigning algorithms, writing programs, testing and debugging, and working collaboratively
4. CybersecurityProtecting personal information, recognizing threats, finding vulnerabilities and recovering from breaches
5. Artificial Intelligence (AI)How computers can be trained to recognize patterns, make decisions and learn from data, with their capabilities and limitations
6. Digital CitizenshipResponsible use of technology, digital footprints, ethical behavior and respectful online communities

AI starts in second grade

The AI strand does not appear in the kindergarten or first grade standards. In second grade (CS.2.5.1), one evidence outcome reads: "Demonstrate how to train a computer to recognize something."

Every grade, then bands

The document sets expectations for kindergarten and each of first to fifth grade, then for middle school and high school as bands, with the most detail at the high school level.

Two versions online

CDE keeps both the 2018 standards and the 2024 revision on its standards page, so schools and families can see what changed between them.

The second grade AI outcomes are worth reading in full because they set the tone. Besides training a computer to recognize something, children are expected to describe how people learn and how computers learn, describe what an intelligent assistant can and cannot do, and identify devices in daily life that use AI. That is AI literacy as understanding, not as tool use, and it is exactly the right order.

Voluntary standards and local diplomas

Why a Colorado district can choose not to use these standards

The answer is in the statute the standards document quotes, and in how Colorado leaves graduation rules to districts.

Computer science in Colorado law and graduation policy, from CDE pages read 17 October 2026
TopicWhat CDE publishes
House Bill 16-1198Told the State Board to adopt secondary-level computer science standards, coding included, aimed at courses that can satisfy a math or a science requirement for graduation
Voluntary useLocal education providers may choose to implement the standards; CDE notes this differs from all other academic standards, which are required
Resource BankAn online computer science resource bank for teachers, authorized by the legislature in 2017
Teacher grantsA Computer Science Grants Program ran from 2017 to 2025; 12 local providers received 2024 to 2025 awards, to be spent by June 30, 2025
Graduation GuidelinesDistricts set their own requirements, with a Menu of Options requiring at least one measure in Reading, Writing, and Communicating and one in Mathematics
Full implementationThe Menu of Options applies to students graduating in the 2021-22 school year and beyond

No statewide CS course rule

In what we read, Colorado sets no single statewide computer science graduation requirement. The state menu names reading, writing and communicating, and mathematics; computer science is not among them.

But it can count

The 1198 law was written for courses that qualify toward a math or science requirement, so a district may let computer science fill one of those slots. Check your district's own rules.

Teachers were the bottleneck

The grant program existed to pay for postsecondary coursework and training for teachers who teach, or want to teach, computer science, including AP and concurrent enrollment courses.

The published counts

Two in three Colorado high schools offer computer science

Code.org (2025) access values and College Board AP school counts for Colorado, as published.

Colorado access by year where the 2025 Code.org trend tab has a value; the first two years and the latest are blank
YearHigh schools with CS
Fall 2020 school year57%
Fall 2021 school year54%
Fall 2022 school year59.0%
Fall 2023 school year (2023 to 2024)66.3%, or 344 of 519 high schools

For the 2023 to 2024 count, the sheet names its Colorado basis as "State Education Agency and School Catalogs", a blend of an official file and school course lists. It holds no Colorado enrollment figure for any year, so how many Colorado students take computer science is not known from this source. College Board counts 353 Colorado schools giving AP exams in 2023 and 364 in 2024, of which 297 and 318 were public. Suggested citation for access: Code.org (2025). 2025 State of AI + CS Education; only single values are quoted.

Signature project

Drawing an honest histogram of Colorado state park trails

Colorado Parks and Wildlife publishes the designated trail segments on its properties, each with a length in miles. Students bin those lengths three ways and watch the story change.

CPW trail segments by length (our bins on the length_mi_ field of the CPW Trail Segments layer, 1,211 records, downloaded 18 October 2026)
Length in milesOur count of segments
Recorded as 0156
More than 0, under 0.25371
0.25 to under 0.5191
0.5 to under 1250
1 to under 2152
2 to under 469
4 or more22

1. Equal bins first

With half-mile bins, the nonzero segments fall 562, 250, 106, 46, 31, 20, 9 and 9, then 22 at four miles and over. The shape is a steep slide: most segments are short connectors.

2. Then wider bins

With one-mile bins the first bar swallows 812 segments and everything else looks tiny: 152, 51, 18, 14 and 8. Same data, a different impression. Students learn to state their bin width in every caption.

3. Handle the zeros

The 156 zeros are not trails of no length. They are values rounded or never measured, so they get their own row rather than being hidden in the first bin, where they would inflate it.

Whose numbers these are

The bins and counts are ours, from one download. CPW describes the layer as its product and property and provides it "as is", so these are teaching figures, not official trail statistics. The longest single segment in the file is Voodoo Loop at Lake Pueblo State Park, recorded at 8.1 miles; the median nonzero segment is 0.4 miles.

A strong follow-up compares the mean, 0.727 miles, with the median, 0.4. When a few long segments pull the mean up, the median describes a typical segment better, and the histogram shows why at a glance. This is the Computational Thinking strand's use of data to generate new knowledge, on data from the student's own state, with the honesty about method that the AI strand asks for when it talks about limitations.

Class times

Mountain Time, the reference zone for the whole region

In the IANA database, US mountain time is "represented by Denver", and Colorado is the first state the entry lists.

One zone statewide

All of Colorado uses America/Denver, which observes daylight saving. Class times are confirmed in Mountain Time, so families never convert anything themselves.

India time, our sums

By our arithmetic, India is 11 hours 30 minutes ahead of Mountain Daylight Time and 12 hours 30 minutes ahead of Mountain Standard Time. The clocks change on November 1, 2026 and March 14, 2027.

A neighbor without daylight saving

Arizona, next door, mostly stays on standard time all year. A Colorado student who builds a meeting planner for both learns why zone names beat fixed offsets.

A cybersecurity habit hiding in time stamps

Log files from different machines only line up if every time stamp carries its zone. Students who record events in UTC and display them in America/Denver are practising the Computing Systems and Networks strand, and avoiding a classic incident-response mistake from the Cybersecurity strand.

Learning ladder

Following the strands from second grade to senior year

These bands are a sketch only. One free session with a teacher shows where a student should really begin.

Grades K to 2

Algorithms and patterns

Step-by-step instructions, patterns in data and the first questions about how a computer can learn.

Coding for KidsAI Literacy for Kids (Ages 8 to 14)
Grades 3 to 5

Programs and AI ideas

Block games, then simple Python, with the AI strand's questions about what machines can and cannot do.

Scratch Coding for KidsPython and AI for Kids
Grades 6 to 8

Code, data, security

Typed Python, data charts like the trails histogram, and safe habits online.

Python for TeensCybersecurity for Teens
Grades 9 to 12

Machine learning and AP

Models trained and evaluated by the student, or AP Computer Science Principles alongside school.

AI and Machine Learning for TeensAP Computer Science Principles
Coding and AI

Colorado asks second graders how computers learn. Older students should build one.

The standards treat AI as something to understand, including its limits. Building a model is the fastest way to see those limits.

A student who trains a small classifier sees immediately that it only knows what its examples taught it. Show it a picture unlike anything in the training set and it guesses with confidence. No lecture about bias lands as hard as watching your own model get it wrong.

That experience changes how students use AI assistants too. They stop asking whether a tool is smart and start asking what it was trained on and how its answer could be checked, which is the habit the AI strand describes when it pairs capabilities with limitations.

Voluntary standards mean some Colorado schools will teach this deeply and others barely at all; a student who learns it either way is ready for both. The longer argument is in why coding still pays off alongside AI.

Delivery

Denver, the Western Slope or the plains, one live class

Mountain passes and long drives stop mattering when the classroom is online.

Flexible timing

Weekdays or weekends, flexible: choose your batch, or for a very personalised plan choose 1-on-1 at your convenience, weekend mornings or weekdays.

Grouped by level

Batches of fifteen to twenty students at the same stage, from Colorado and across the US, with a live teacher each session.

Private option

One teacher for one student, useful for advanced AI projects, AP preparation or a student whose district offers little computer science.

School work stays theirs

Teachers use US grade levels and can connect lessons to a school course, but anything graded at school is always the student's own.

A free start

The first lesson is free and ends with a recommendation for level, course and time. We do not ask for card details.

What is needed

A computer with a keyboard, working audio and an internet connection that handles video calls.

Online, from India

Modern Age Coders has no Colorado office or classroom and claims none. Teachers work live from India, and we are not connected with CDE, CPW or any Colorado district.

Fees

What Colorado families pay

Three amounts, in US dollars, and no others.

First classUSD 0

An introductory lesson at no charge, closing with a level and course suggestion.

Group tuitionUSD 100

A month of batch lessons with fifteen to twenty students at a matching level.

Private tuitionUSD 150

A month of one-to-one lessons on the same schedule.

Boulder and Grand Junction pay the same US rate, in US dollars. You are billed only after the free lesson, once a course and time are agreed; holidays and missed lessons are covered on the pricing page.

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Reviews

Parent and student reviews on Google

Rated 4.9 across 547 Google reviews. These are real reviews, reproduced as written.

★★★★★

"The one step solution for my son. Modern Age Coders make learning coding so simple that kids love it. The teachers explain complex concepts clearly with practical exercises and interactive content."

Ria Mukherjee

Parent

★★★★★

"Modern Age Coders has been a game-changer for me. I struggled to grasp IT concepts and coding before joining, but their classes transformed everything. I can now confidently write complex programs with ease."

Samriddha Mondal

Student

★★★★★

"One of the most wonderful education centres out there. Education is not limited to school syllabus but focuses on skill development."

Vansh Agarwal

Student

★★★★★

"My child Dhairya is really enjoying the Modern Age Coders classes. This is his first online class and he eagerly looks forward to it. I can already see his improvement, and the teachers are very cooperative."

Sonam Oswal

Parent of Dhairya

★★★★★

"Modern Age Coders have wonderful teachers who teach in a clear, easy and practical way. The teacher boosts students' confidence and inspires them to learn without hesitation."

Sonu Goyal

Parent

★★★★★

"I highly recommend this computer coding class! The teachers are incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about coding."

Ritu Kedia

Parent

Free placement class

Request a free lesson for a Colorado student

Tell us the grade and the interest: a second grader curious about how a computer recognizes pictures, a middle schooler ready for Python, or a high schooler who wants to train a model.

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FAQ

Colorado questions, answered

What Colorado families ask before they start.

When were the current Colorado computer science standards adopted?

The State Board of Education adopted the current version in May 2024. CDE also keeps the earlier 2018 standards online for comparison.

Do Colorado schools have to follow the computer science standards?

No. Each local education provider decides whether to use them. CDE points out that this optional status is unique among the state's subject standards.

When does AI appear in the Colorado standards?

In second grade. The first AI expectations include training a computer to recognize something and describing what an intelligent assistant can and cannot do.

Is computer science required to graduate in Colorado?

Not statewide in what we read. Districts set their own graduation requirements, and the state menu names reading, writing and communicating, and mathematics measures.

Can computer science count as math or science in Colorado?

House Bill 16-1198 tied the standards to courses that qualify toward a math or science graduation requirement, so some districts allow it. Ask your district.

What share of Colorado high schools have a computer science course?

The 2025 Code.org sheet puts it at 344 of 519, or 66.3%, for 2023 to 2024, combining state agency data with school catalogs.

What time are Colorado classes?

Weekdays or weekends, flexible: choose your batch, or for a very personalised plan choose 1-on-1 at your convenience, weekend mornings or weekdays. Times are set in Mountain Time.

Are your AI classes suitable for elementary students?

Yes, with age-appropriate tools and no accounts that require an older age. Young students learn how machines learn from examples before using any assistant.

Do you have a Denver location?

No. Our teachers are in India and every lesson is live online; no Colorado premises or district partnership is claimed.

Where are the fees listed?

In the fees section above: a free first lesson, then monthly batch or 1-on-1 plans in US dollars, with billing only after the free lesson.

Explore the United States

More for Colorado families

Parents of younger children can read AI literacy for elementary students. Teens can compare cybersecurity classes for teens and coding classes for high school students, and ambitious builders can read our Presidential AI Challenge guide.

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