K-12 Computer Science Standards by State, With AI

In short

Most US states have K-12 computer science standards. Reading the state pages of Code.org (2025), 2025 State of AI + CS Education, we count 44 states with standards adopted, Nebraska in progress, and six without: DC, Maine, Minnesota, Oregon, South Dakota and Vermont. Only four states emphasize AI in their CS standards: Colorado, North Dakota, Ohio and Virginia. Six more were revising toward it. Modern Age Coders teaches this live online for US students, in a batch or one to one, and the first class is free.

Learn what the standards describe

Three courses mapped to the standards’ core ideas

Programming, data, computing systems and the impact of computing, taught live and in order.

CSSB / 01

Coding for kids

Ages 6 to 12. Algorithms and programming through games and apps.

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CSSB / 02

Python for teens

Ages 13 to 18. Programming plus data and analysis.

Open the syllabus →

AP Computer Science Principles course thumbnail

CSSB / 03

AP CS Principles

Grades 9 to 12. Every core concept, and the AP exam.

Open the syllabus →

Every state and DC

Which states have computer science standards

Three policies from each state page of the 2025 report. "In progress" means the state had begun writing or revising but had not published when the data were finalized on December 1, 2025.

K-12 computer science standards, AI in standards and state CS plans, by state (Code.org, 2025; read 17 October 2026)
State	K-12 CS standards	AI emphasized in CS standards	State CS plan
Alabama	Yes	No	Yes
Alaska	Yes	No	Yes
Arizona	Yes	No	No
Arkansas	Yes	No	Yes
California	Yes	No	Yes
Colorado	Yes	Yes	No
Connecticut	Yes	No	Yes
Delaware	Yes	No	No
District of Columbia	No	No	No
Florida	Yes	No	No
Georgia	Yes	No	Yes
Hawaii	Yes	No	Yes
Idaho	Yes	No	Yes
Illinois	Yes	No	No
Indiana	Yes	No	Yes
Iowa	Yes	In progress	Yes
Kansas	Yes	No	No
Kentucky	Yes	In progress	Yes
Louisiana	Yes	No	Yes
Maine	No	No	Yes
Maryland	Yes	No	Yes
Massachusetts	Yes	No	Yes
Michigan	Yes	No	No
Minnesota	No	No	Yes
Mississippi	Yes	No	Yes
Missouri	Yes	No	Yes
Montana	Yes	No	No
Nebraska	In progress	No	Yes
Nevada	Yes	No	Yes
New Hampshire	Yes	No	Yes
New Jersey	Yes	No	Yes
New Mexico	Yes	No	Yes
New York	Yes	No	Yes
North Carolina	Yes	No	Yes
North Dakota	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ohio	Yes	Yes	Yes
Oklahoma	Yes	No	Yes
Oregon	No	In progress	Yes
Pennsylvania	Yes	No	No
Rhode Island	Yes	No	Yes
South Carolina	Yes	No	No
South Dakota	No	In progress	No
Tennessee	Yes	In progress	Yes
Texas	Yes	No	No
Utah	Yes	No	Yes
Vermont	No	No	No
Virginia	Yes	Yes	No
Washington	Yes	No	Yes
West Virginia	Yes	No	Yes
Wisconsin	Yes	In progress	In progress
Wyoming	Yes	No	Yes

Source: Code.org (2025). 2025 State of AI + CS Education, state report pages (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). The organisation now trades as CodeAI. Statuses are our reading of each published toggle; the AI column matches the report’s printed total of four. We have no connection with Code.org or with any state.

The six "No" rows

The District of Columbia, Maine, Minnesota, Oregon, South Dakota and Vermont show no adopted K-12 CS standards in the 2025 data, and Nebraska shows standards in progress. Schools in those places still teach computer science; they simply lack a statewide set of grade-band expectations under the report’s rubric.

South Dakota is a useful reminder that one column rarely tells the whole story. Its state page says AI concepts are already in its elementary and middle school CS standards and that "high school standards development is in progress".

Standards are not requirements

Having standards does not mean every student must take computer science. Standards describe what a CS course or unit should cover; a graduation requirement decides who must take one. A state can have detailed standards and no requirement at all.

For a parent, standards are most useful as a checklist: if your child’s school offers CS, the state standards tell you what a good course in that grade band should include.

AI in the standards

The four states that put AI into their CS standards

The report counts a state only if its CS standards either name a specific AI strand or topic, or integrate AI concepts and skills through every grade band. Four did.

States emphasizing AI in K-12 CS standards, and how, from their 2025 report pages
State	How the report describes it
Colorado	Standards "position AI as one of six core strands" across elementary, middle and high school
North Dakota	AI concepts emphasized across its elementary, middle and high school "Computer Science & Cyber Security standards"
Ohio	Frames AI as one of six strands that cut across elementary, middle and high school CS standards
Virginia	"emphasizes AI concepts in the state’s elementary, middle, and high school computer science standards"

States marked in progress toward AI in CS standards (Code.org, 2025)
State	What the state page says
Iowa	Marked in progress; the page lists AI in standards among next steps
Kentucky	A "current revision" of its CS standards is under way
Oregon	Marked in progress; the state also has no adopted K-12 CS standards in the report
South Dakota	AI already in elementary and middle standards; high school standards in progress
Tennessee	"in the process of revising its computer science standards to emphasize AI"
Wisconsin	A draft including AI went out for public comment in September 2025

A note on dates: the report’s data were finalized on December 1, 2025. Wisconsin planned to finalize its standards by the end of 2025, so its status may well have changed since. Check the state education department for the version in force.

The shared framework

Why most state standards look alike: the five core concepts

Many states wrote their standards from the K-12 Computer Science Framework, a set of conceptual guidelines developed by national organizations with state representatives. It is not itself a set of standards, which is why each state’s version differs in detail.

The K-12 Computer Science Framework: core concepts and core practices (k12cs.org, read 17 October 2026)
Five core concepts	Seven core practices
Computing Systems	Fostering an Inclusive Computing Culture
Networks and the Internet	Collaborating Around Computing
Data and Analysis	Recognizing and Defining Computational Problems
Algorithms and Programming	Developing and Using Abstractions
Impacts of Computing	Creating Computational Artifacts
	Testing and Refining Computational Artifacts
	Communicating About Computing

How the framework is organized

The framework sets expectations for each concept at four grade band endpoints: the end of grades 2, 5, 8 and 12. The practices are written as a narrative of growth rather than split by grade.

Its FAQ says plainly that "The framework is not a set of standards." States turn it into measurable performance expectations, and that is where their versions diverge.

One state as an example

North Carolina’s standards are "derived originally from the CSTA standards" and built around the same five concepts. They are organized by grade band from kindergarten to grade 8 (K-2, 3-5 and 6-8) and by course in high school, starting with "Introduction to Computer Science (ICS)".

Expect a similar shape in most states: grade bands through middle school, then course-based standards in high school.

Sources: K-12 Computer Science Framework and its FAQ; NC Department of Public Instruction, NC Computer Science Standards. Read 17 October 2026.

Reading your state’s standards

How to read a state CS standard in five minutes

Our short guide for parents opening a state standards document for the first time.

Find your child’s grade band. Most states group kindergarten to grade 8 into bands such as K-2, 3-5 and 6-8.
Look for the concept label on each line, often an abbreviation of one of the five concepts, such as Algorithms and Programming.
Read the verb. "Create", "debug" and "analyze" ask far more than "identify" or "describe".
Check for AI. In a few states it is a named strand; in most it appears, if at all, inside Data and Analysis or Impacts of Computing.
Compare with the school course. Ask which standards the course covers and how student work is assessed against them.

Revision cycles matter

CodeAI’s newer rubric, revised on September 24, 2026, treats standards as historic if they "have not been revised within the past 5 years". Computing changes quickly, so the age of a document is worth noticing.

That newer rubric was published after the 2025 data, so the table on this page does not use its tiers.

What standards leave out

Standards describe outcomes, not lessons. They will not tell you which language a school uses, how many hours a week CS gets, or whether a teacher is trained in it.

Those questions belong to the school. The standards simply give you the vocabulary to ask them.

Practice set

Five middle school tasks, one per core concept

Our own practice set for grades 6 to 8. Each task matches one of the five concepts, so a student can see what a standard asks in practice. Answers are discussed in class, not printed here.

A grades 6 to 8 practice set across the five core concepts (ours)
Concept	Task	What it shows
Computing Systems	List what happens, step by step, between pressing a key and a letter appearing on screen	Hardware and software working together
Networks and the Internet	Explain why a large file is split into packets, using a mailed jigsaw as the comparison	How data travels
Data and Analysis	Record a week of daily temperatures and find the mean and median (see the code below)	Summarising data
Algorithms and Programming	Write a loop that prints the 7 times table up to 70, then change it to any number	Loops and variables
Impacts of Computing	Name one benefit and one risk of a school using face recognition for attendance	Weighing technology’s effects

For grades 3 to 5

Do the same five tasks out loud or on paper, with block code for the loop. The concepts are the same; the tools are simpler.

For grades 6 to 8

Write the loop and the data task in real code, and write two sentences for the impact task.

For high school

Extend each one: a packet simulation, a full data report, and a written argument with sources.

Data and Analysis in code

A Python example for the data task

The data task from the practice set, in a few lines of Python. It uses only the standard library, so it runs anywhere Python 3 is installed.

temperatures.py (our example)Python 3

import statistics

# one week of noon temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit (our sample data)
temps = [61, 64, 58, 70, 73, 66, 59]

print("mean:", round(statistics.mean(temps), 1))
print("median:", statistics.median(temps))
print("warmest day:", temps.index(max(temps)) + 1)

Output: mean 64.4, median 64, warmest day 5. The sum is 451 and 451 / 7 = 64.43, so the mean rounds to 64.4. Sorting gives 58, 59, 61, 64, 66, 70, 73, and the middle value is 64.

Which standards this touches

Data and Analysis, through collecting and summarising data. Algorithms and Programming, through variables, lists and built-in functions.

The extension question "why might the mean and median differ?" moves the task from following steps to analysing, which is what higher-level standards ask for.

Make it harder

Ask the student to read the temperatures from a file instead of typing them, then to chart them. Both steps appear in high school standards in many states.

Then ask what would change with thirty days instead of seven. Larger samples are where summary statistics start to earn their keep.

Where students are

Four stages through the standards

How students usually move through what the standards describe.

Stages through K-12 CS standards (ours)
Stage	What it looks like
1. Explorer	Uses block code to make things move and respond
2. Builder	Writes loops and conditions, fixes simple bugs
3. Analyst	Works with data, files and functions in a typed language
4. Designer	Plans, builds and tests a project for real users

For parents

Stages do not map neatly to grades. A keen fifth grader can be a builder; a tenth grader new to CS starts as an explorer.

The five concepts are a better guide than any single grade label.

For students

If something in your school’s CS course feels too easy or too hard, find its concept in the table and ask for the next step.

Projects that touch several concepts at once teach the most.

The catalogue

Nine courses across the grade bands

Grouped by grade band; each one runs live with the same teacher each week, as a group class or privately.

I

Elementary

Grades 3 to 5

CSSB / E / 01

Scratch coding

Algorithms in blocks.

Open the syllabus

CSSB / E / 02

Computational thinking

Logic and patterns.

Open the syllabus

CSSB / E / 03

AI literacy for kids

How AI works, age-appropriately.

Open the syllabus

II

Middle school

Grades 6 to 8

CSSB / M / 01

Python for kids

The first typed language.

Open the syllabus

CSSB / M / 02

Web development for kids

Pages, networks and the internet.

Open the syllabus

CSSB / M / 03

Maths through coding

Data and number in Python.

Open the syllabus

III

High school

Grades 9 to 12

CSSB / H / 01

Python for teens

Programming and data in depth.

Open the syllabus

CSSB / H / 02

AP CS Principles

All five concepts.

Open the syllabus

CSSB / H / 03

AI and machine learning

Where the standards are heading.

Open the syllabus

How lessons run

Live lessons organised by concept, not by worksheet

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

Weekdays

After-school times across US time zones.

Weekends

Longer project sessions suit weekends.

1-on-1

Aligned to your state’s grade band.

Concept by concept

Each unit names the standard it serves.

One teacher

The same person every week.

Code that runs

Ideas become working programs.

AI with care

Age-appropriate tools only.

Every state

Live online, nationwide.

Two formats

Groups of fifteen to twenty, or private.

Student work

What our students have made

Projects from our learners that cover programming, data and design. More on the student labs page.

AI and ML

NutriLife

An AI nutrition coach that reads what you eat and works you toward a target.

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AI and ML

Misti

A chatbot that answers mathematics and programming questions, built and deployed by a student.

by Harshit · Open it

AI and ML

GuardianX

An assistant that helps a young person recognise unsafe situations online.

by Vivaan · Open it

Web app

SkyCast

A weather forecasting site with live conditions for any location.

by Krish

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Questions from families

Computer science standards: common questions

How many states have K-12 computer science standards?

Reading the state pages of Code.org (2025), 2025 State of AI + CS Education, we count 44 states with adopted standards and Nebraska in progress. DC, Maine, Minnesota, Oregon, South Dakota and Vermont were marked as not having them.

Which states include AI in their computer science standards?

Four, according to the 2025 report: Colorado, North Dakota, Ohio and Virginia. Iowa, Kentucky, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wisconsin were marked as in progress.

What are the five core concepts?

Computing Systems; Networks and the Internet; Data and Analysis; Algorithms and Programming; and Impacts of Computing. They come from the K-12 Computer Science Framework, which many states used to write their standards.

Are standards the same as a graduation requirement?

No. Standards describe what a CS course should cover in each grade band. A graduation requirement decides whether every student must take one. A state can have one without the other.

What does it mean when a state is in progress?

In the report, it means the state had publicly begun creating or revising standards but had not published them when the data were finalized on December 1, 2025.

Is the K-12 CS Framework a set of standards?

No. Its own FAQ says the framework is not a set of standards. States use it to write measurable standards of their own.

My state has no standards. Does that matter for my child?

It mainly means schools have less shared guidance. Many still teach strong CS. The five core concepts are a sensible checklist for any course, wherever you live.

Do your classes follow a particular state's standards?

Our courses cover the five core concepts that most state standards share, and in 1-on-1 classes the teacher can align topics to your state's grade band.

When can my child take 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.

Are you connected with Code.org or a state department?

Not at all. Modern Age Coders runs its own classes; this page only reports what those organisations publish, with links.

Elsewhere on this site

Related pages

More for US families following computer science through school.

Coding classes in the USA

Our hub for US families.

North Carolina

The NC standards and requirement.

AP CS Principles

The broadest high school CS course.

Homeschool coding

Using the concepts at home.

Coding for 10-year-olds

Where elementary CS starts.

AI and machine learning

For students who want more AI.

High school CS access by state

High school computer science access and enrollment in every US state, 2025 data.

AI guidance for schools by state

State AI guidance for schools, all 50 states and DC, from the 2025 Code.org report.

Common Core math vs traditional math

Common Core and traditional math compared from the standards, with a worked example.

Start here

Book a free first lesson

Share the grade and the state you live in. In the first session the teacher checks your child against the five concepts and suggests where to begin.

Curious about our approach? Read how we teach, or look through every course outline.

WhatsApp us · +91 91233 66161 · connect@modernagecoders.com

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Three courses mapped to the standards’ core ideas

Coding for kids

Python for teens

AP CS Principles

Which states have computer science standards

The six "No" rows

Standards are not requirements

The four states that put AI into their CS standards

Why most state standards look alike: the five core concepts

How the framework is organized

One state as an example

How to read a state CS standard in five minutes

Revision cycles matter

What standards leave out

Five middle school tasks, one per core concept

For grades 3 to 5

For grades 6 to 8

For high school

A Python example for the data task

Which standards this touches

Make it harder

Four stages through the standards

For parents

For students

Nine courses across the grade bands

Elementary

Scratch coding

Computational thinking

AI literacy for kids

Middle school

Python for kids

Web development for kids

Maths through coding

High school

Python for teens

AP CS Principles

AI and machine learning

Live lessons organised by concept, not by worksheet

Concept by concept

One teacher

Code that runs

AI with care

Every state

Two formats

What our students have made

NutriLife

Misti

GuardianX

SkyCast

Fees

Rated 4.9 across 547 Google reviews

Computer science standards: common questions

How many states have K-12 computer science standards?

Which states include AI in their computer science standards?

What are the five core concepts?

Are standards the same as a graduation requirement?

What does it mean when a state is in progress?

Is the K-12 CS Framework a set of standards?

My state has no standards. Does that matter for my child?

Do your classes follow a particular state's standards?

When can my child take classes?

Are you connected with Code.org or a state department?

Related pages

Book a free first lesson

Want a class sooner? Book a priority demo

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