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Pennsylvania, United States

Coding and AI classes in Pennsylvania

Do Pennsylvania high schools teach computer science, and is it required?

Most offer it, but no statewide course is required. Code.org (2025) reports 530 of 684 Pennsylvania high schools offering computer science in 2023 to 2024, while the state’s graduation rules run through Keystone Exams and five Pathways to Graduation. Modern Age Coders teaches Pennsylvania students live online, ages 6 to 18, from Scratch to AP Computer Science A.

Pennsylvania sits in an unusual position. Its high schools offer computer science more widely than the national figure, yet in the latest year Code.org reports, only about one high school student in twenty-eight was enrolled in a CS course. There is no state rule that every teenager must take one, and the new technology and engineering standards that took effect on July 1, 2025 are written for grades 6 to 12 as a whole rather than as a programming course. So whether a Pennsylvania student learns to code properly depends a great deal on the school, the timetable and the student’s own push. This page lays out the published numbers, what the state actually requires, a data project on Pittsburgh’s famous public stairways, and how our live classes fit beside school.

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Facts last verified 17 October 2026. Teaching is online; no Pennsylvania branch is claimed.

Course picks for Pennsylvania

Where a Pennsylvania student usually starts

Four starting points matched to grade and ambition. The free first lesson confirms the level before anything is agreed.

Scratch Coding for Kids course thumbnail
Grades 1 to 5

Scratch Coding for Kids

Animations, games and stories in Scratch, with the habit of testing an idea, spotting the bug and fixing it.

See the syllabus
 Python and AI for Kids course thumbnail
Grades 5 to 8

Python and AI for Kids

The jump from blocks to typed Python, with small AI experiments a middle schooler can explain to a parent.

See the syllabus
 AP Computer Science A course thumbnail
Grades 10 to 12

AP Computer Science A

Java, object-oriented design and free-response practice for AP Computer Science A, at the pace of the school year.

See the syllabus
 Data Science for Teens course thumbnail
Grades 9 to 12

Data Science for Teens

Python with real tables: cleaning, counting and charting open data such as the Pittsburgh steps inventory below.

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
Access and enrollment

Pennsylvania computer science by the numbers

Every figure below is quoted from its publisher. Where a year has no value in the source, the table says so rather than filling the gap.

Pennsylvania trend: the percentage of public high schools with a foundational CS course, year by year, per Code.org (2025)
YearPercent with CS
2018 to 201959%
2019 to 202063%
2020 to 202167%
2021 to 202271%
2022 to 202375%
2023 to 202478% in the trend tab; 530 of 684 high schools in the most recent count
2024 to 2025No value published for Pennsylvania
Students in the seat and schools giving AP exams
MeasurePennsylvania figurePublisher
High school students enrolled in CS, 2023 to 202419,506 of 551,996, or 3.53%Code.org (2025), state education agency data; enrollment base from NCES, fall 2022
CS participation, 2020 to 2021, 2021 to 2022, 2022 to 20235.3%, 5.4%, 5.9%Code.org (2025), participation tab
Schools with AP exams, 2023 and 2024770, then 771College Board, School Report of AP Exams by State
Public schools with AP exams, 2023 and 2024585, then 601College Board
Non-public schools with AP exams, 2023 and 2024185, then 170College Board

Read the two tables together and a pattern appears. Access climbed every year Code.org measured, from 59% to roughly 78% of high schools, so a Pennsylvania teenager is more likely than not to find a CS course in the catalog. Enrollment did not follow. The 2023 to 2024 participation value, 3.53%, is lower than the 5.9% recorded the year before; the sheet gives no reason for the drop and we do not offer one. What it does say plainly is that availability and uptake are different things.

On AP, the College Board counts one more Pennsylvania school giving exams in 2024 than in 2023, with public schools up by sixteen and non-public schools down by fifteen. Those counts cover every AP subject, not only computer science, so they describe the reach of AP in the state rather than the reach of AP CS. Cite the access and participation figures as Code.org (2025). 2025 State of AI + CS Education; we quote single values and do not republish the dataset.

What the state requires

Keystone Exams, five pathways and no compulsory CS course

From the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) page on statewide high school graduation requirements, read on 17 October 2026.

The Keystone Exams

PDE describes the Keystones as end-of-course assessments in Algebra I, Literature, and Biology. Students in Commonwealth public schools take part in them for federal accountability.

Five pathways

Effective with the class of 2023, students can meet statewide requirements through one of five Pathways to Graduation, combining Keystone results, local requirements and evidence from other courses or programs.

Where CS fits

Computer science is not one of the statewide requirements on that page. Districts set their own local course requirements, so what counts toward a diploma beyond the state floor is a question for the school.

What this means for a family

Because the state does not require CS, a student can graduate from many Pennsylvania high schools without writing a line of code. The course may well be on offer; the student has to choose it, or learn outside school. That choice is the gap our classes are built for.

The legal basis PDE links to is Title 22, Chapter 4 of the Pennsylvania Code and the Public School Code sections on Keystone Exams and graduation. We quote the department’s summary and do not interpret the statutes ourselves; for a specific student, the district’s course guide is the authority.

The 2025 standards

Where coding lives in Pennsylvania’s new standards

Section 4.12 of Title 22 of the Pennsylvania Code replaced the old science and technology standards on July 1, 2025.

Standards effective July 1, 2025 under 22 Pa. Code 4.12 (summarised from the regulation), and the matching work in our classes (right-hand column ours)
Standards setGradesWhat our classes add
Pennsylvania Integrated Standards for Science, Environment, Ecology, Technology and EngineeringK to 5Block coding projects that model a simple system, then test and improve it
Pennsylvania Integrated Standards for Science, Environment and Ecology6 to 12Python data work on real environmental and city datasets
Pennsylvania Technology and Engineering Standards6 to 12, with bands 6 to 8 and 9 to 12Design, build and debug cycles in Python, web and app projects

Four core standards

The regulation says four core disciplinary standards describe practices in technology and engineering, with specific benchmarks for grade bands 6 to 8 and 9 to 12.

Computational thinking

PDE’s own definition of STEM education lists computational thinking beside design thinking and problem solving, which is the habit of mind every coding lesson trains.

Not a programming syllabus

None of these sets is a stand-alone computer science course. They make room for coding; they do not guarantee a student will learn a language to any depth.

Signature project

Counting Pittsburgh’s public stairways in Python

Pittsburgh is built on hills, and the city publishes its inventory of public steps through the Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center (WPRDC) under a Creative Commons Attribution licence. It is an ideal first real dataset.

City of Pittsburgh Steps: our counts from the WPRDC download of 17 October 2026 (1,134 records)
Question a student asksOur answer from the data
How many stairways are listed?1,134 records across 80 neighborhoods
Which neighborhood has the most?South Side Slopes with 109, then Mount Washington with 54 and Perry North with 48
What are most of them made of?Concrete 858, wood 121, stone 85, with mixed and other materials making up the rest
How many have 100 steps or more?113, and 11 of those have 200 or more
Which has the most steps?Ray Ave from Fair Ave to Woodward Ave in Brookline, at 378 steps
How complete is the step count?Filled for 1,022 records, blank for 112, and zero for 16

1. Filter

Students load the CSV, keep only rows where the step count is filled in, and print how many survive. That single filter teaches more about real data than a week of textbook lists.

2. Count by category

A Counter over the material column, then over neighborhood, gives the two tallies above. A bar chart of the top ten neighborhoods makes the hills of the South Side visible at a glance.

3. Check the documentation

The published data dictionary lists 17 fields, but the download carries more columns, including the step count. Students learn to compare a file with its documentation before trusting either.

Our numbers, not the city’s

Every count in the table is our own, from one download on one day. The city updates the data, records can be blank or zero for reasons the file does not give, and a zero may mean unmeasured rather than flat. Saying exactly what a number is, and what it is not, is the point of the exercise.

A middle schooler can finish the filter and the material count in a lesson. A high schooler goes further: binning stairways by step count, plotting them on a map from the latitude and longitude columns, and asking whether neighborhoods with many stairways cluster along the steepest slopes. The licence asks only that the city be credited, which is a good first lesson in data ethics too.

Grade by grade

What to aim for in elementary, middle and high school

A practical map for Pennsylvania families, using state events and the AP route as markers. The plan is ours; the event facts are PDE’s.

Grades K to 4

Sequencing, loops and events in blocks. The goal is a child who can build a small game, break it on purpose and explain the fix.

Grades 5 to 8

Typed Python and a first real dataset. PDE’s Keystone STEM Competition is open from grade 5, so this is also the age to try a team design challenge.

Grades 9 to 12

A school CS course if the timetable allows, AP Computer Science A or Principles, and a portfolio of projects a student built and can defend.

The Keystone STEM Competition, as PDE describes it

A free, one-day statewide challenge for grades 5 to 12, with teams of up to five students, grade bands of 5 to 6, 7 to 8 and 9 to 12, regional events across Pennsylvania’s 29 Intermediate Units, and no preparation required. We are not connected with the competition.

PDE also notes that Pennsylvania has nine nationally recognized STEM ecosystems linking schools, employers and community groups. Those networks run local events; our classes are a way to build the coding depth a student brings to them.

Clock and calendar

Eastern Time, from Erie to Philadelphia

The whole state keeps one zone. The IANA time zone database lists Pennsylvania under US eastern time, represented by America/New_York.

Eastern Time against India time, 2026 to 2027 (our arithmetic from the IANA rules)
PeriodPennsylvania clockIndia time is ahead by
Until November 1, 2026Eastern Daylight Time, UTC minus 49 hours 30 minutes
November 1, 2026 to March 14, 2027Eastern Standard Time, UTC minus 510 hours 30 minutes
From March 14, 2027Eastern Daylight Time again9 hours 30 minutes

Our teachers work from India, which keeps the same clock all year, so the gap with Pittsburgh or Harrisburg changes twice a year while lesson times stay put on the Eastern clock. Families see every time in Eastern Time first.

Course path

Four steps from blocks to AP

Grades are starting guides. Placement after the free lesson decides where a student actually begins.

Grades K to 4

Play with logic

Block programs, puzzles and the first finished games.

Coding for KidsScratch Coding for Kids
Grades 5 to 8

Type real code

Python fundamentals, simple web pages and a first look at AI.

Python and AI for KidsWeb Development for Kids
Grades 9 to 10

Work with data

Python in depth, datasets, charts and larger projects.

Python for TeensData Science for Teens
Grades 11 to 12

AP and machine learning

AP Computer Science A in Java and models trained on data the student has cleaned.

AP Computer Science AAI and Machine Learning for Teens
Coding and AI

Pennsylvania’s own advice on AI points back to coding

PDE publishes guidance on AI in K-12 education. Two of its lines explain why students still need to understand the code underneath.

Among the department’s cautions: “Do not use AI as a final source of facts.” and “Do not use AI as the only grader. Teachers must review and make final decisions.” Both assume a person who can check what a machine produced. In the stairway project, a careless summary would say all 1,134 stairways have a known step count. That is wrong: 112 records are blank, and nobody notices unless they look.

A student who wrote the filter knows why that answer fails. That is the skill we teach alongside every AI tool: read the output, test it against the data, and decide whether to trust it. Students under 18 use only tools whose terms allow their age.

AI makes code cheap to produce and judgment more valuable, and judgment comes from having built things yourself. The longer argument is in why coding still matters when AI writes code.

How classes run

One live classroom for every corner of the Commonwealth

A student in State College and a student in Scranton join the same lesson from home.

Live, not recorded

A teacher speaks, shares a screen and reads the student’s code in real time, so mistakes are caught in the lesson rather than at the end of a video.

Pennsylvania calendar

Teachers plan around US grade levels, Keystone season and AP exam weeks. School assignments remain the student’s own work; we teach the ideas behind them.

Your schedule

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

Level-matched groups

Fifteen to twenty classmates per batch, grouped by skill, some from Pennsylvania and some from elsewhere in the country.

Private lessons

One teacher and one student, for faster progress, AP Computer Science A preparation or a specific project.

A free first lesson

The first class is a real lesson with a real task, followed by a placement suggestion. No card details are requested.

Online only, and said plainly

Modern Age Coders has no center in Pennsylvania and claims none. Classes are taught live online from India; a student needs a computer, a microphone or working sound, and a steady connection.

Fees

Fees for Pennsylvania families

The same three figures apply everywhere in the state.

First classUSD 0

One complete lesson at no charge, ending with a recommended course, level and class time.

Group tuitionUSD 100

A month of live lessons in a level-matched batch of fifteen to twenty students.

Private tuitionUSD 150

A month on the same rhythm with a teacher for one student only.

Families in Pennsylvania pay in US dollars at a single rate, whether they live in Allentown or Altoona. Nothing is billed until after the free lesson, and the pricing page sets out how holidays and missed lessons are handled.

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Reviews

What families say about us 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

Reserve a free lesson for your Pennsylvania learner

Share a grade and a goal with us. A fourth grader might start with a Scratch game; a junior might start with the Pittsburgh steps dataset or an AP Computer Science A problem.

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FAQ

Pennsylvania coding and AI questions

Short answers sourced to PDE, Code.org and the College Board; anything that is our opinion says so.

Is computer science required to graduate in Pennsylvania?

Not as a statewide course. PDE says students meet statewide requirements through the Keystone Exams or one of five Pathways to Graduation, effective with the class of 2023. Districts may add local requirements.

How many Pennsylvania high schools offer computer science?

Code.org (2025) reports 530 of 684 Pennsylvania high schools offering foundational computer science in 2023 to 2024, about 77.5%.

How many Pennsylvania students take computer science?

For 2023 to 2024, Code.org reports 19,506 of 551,996 high school students, or 3.53%, enrolled in a computer science course.

Which subjects are the Keystone Exams?

PDE lists Algebra I, Literature, and Biology as the three end-of-course Keystone Exams.

What changed in the Pennsylvania standards in 2025?

From July 1, 2025, 22 Pa. Code 4.12 introduced integrated science, environment, ecology, technology and engineering standards for grades K to 5, and separate technology and engineering standards for grades 6 to 12.

Who can enter the Keystone STEM Competition?

PDE describes it as a free, one-day challenge for grades 5 to 12, with teams of up to five students and regional events across the 29 Intermediate Units. We are not connected with it.

Will your classes count toward a Pennsylvania diploma?

No. Credit comes from the student's school. Our classes add depth, projects and AP preparation, and graded school work stays the student's own.

When are classes held for Pennsylvania students?

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 confirmed in Eastern Time.

Do you have a Pennsylvania location?

No. There is no Modern Age Coders center in Pennsylvania. Every class is live and online, taught from India.

Where can I see the fees?

The fees section above lists the free first lesson, the monthly batch and the monthly one-to-one option. Billing begins only after the free lesson.

Keep exploring

Next steps beyond this page

Juniors and seniors weighing AP should see AP Computer Science A classes, while contest fans can try USACO preparation. For activities beyond class, see computer science extracurriculars, or compare with our page for North Carolina, where CS is now a graduation requirement.

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