Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area Educators Learn Computational Thinking To Prepare Students For 21st Century Careers

SILVER SPRING, Md. and NEW YORK, Nov. 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Tata Consultancy Services, (TCS), (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS) a leading global IT services, consulting and business solutions organization, and Discovery Education, the premier provider of digital education content and professional development for K-12 classrooms, have announced the continuation of their Ignite My Future in School program in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. Teachers will receive professional development, educational resources and year-round support to integrate computational thinking into core subjects such as math, sciences, arts, and social studies. In turn, students will be exposed to foundational skills for 21^st century careers – across industries – through this transdisciplinary approach.

"Creating pathways for teachers to gain relevant skills is essential to ensuring the success of students and the future of the nation," said Balaji Ganapathy, Head of Workforce Effectiveness, TCS. "I applaud these districts for being forward-thinking and committed to integrating computer science into core subjects. We are excited to provide instructors from all communities, rural, suburban and city with opportunities to succeed and create curriculums that are contextually aligned with the needs of industries in Washington D.C., Maryland and Virginia."

Educators from District of Columbia Public Schools, Maryland's Anne Arundel County, Kent County and Prince George's County, as well as Virginia's Loudoun County and Arlington Public Schools will experience immersive computational thinking training. The participating districts are diverse; from urban Washington D.C., to suburban Anne Arundel County and rural Kent County. Nonetheless, the school systems share a common interest of providing their employees with the necessary tools to teach students how to thrive in a tech savvy world. Approximately 100 teachers from 46 schools will participate in Day of Discovery at Discovery Headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland. The program is estimated to impact 8,000 students across the districts.

"Today's Day of Discovery will bring together K-12 educators from every level to reimagine how they can use computational thinking to help students develop the foundational skills needed for 21^st century careers," said Lori McFarling, senior vice-president and chief marketing officer, Discovery Education. "We are proud to be partnering with Tata Consultancy Services on this exciting event, and look forward to continue building on the tremendous momentum the Ignite My Future in School initiative is creating nationwide."

Leading businesses from across sectors, including technology and telecommunication, form a major presence employing thousands of residents in and around Washington D.C. Yet, Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C still have thousands of open computing jobs – in fact, 4.3 times the demand rate for the region. Maryland has over 18,000 open computing jobs, while the state produced less than 3,000 graduates this past year. Virginia's disparity is more drastic, with over 32,000 available computing jobs, but less than 1,600 computer science graduates. Ignite My Future in School hopes to bridge the gap by developing relevant skills for 21^st century job opportunities in the new digital economy, including Artificial Intelligence, machine learning and the Internet of Things (IoT). 

On a National level, Ignite My Future in School has a goal of engaging 20,000 teachers and one million U.S. students by 2021. As a first step towards this goal, TCS and Discovery Education announced that 10 U.S. school systems across the country – with more than 6,700 teachers and 194,000 students – joined the effort as early adopters of this transdisciplinary approach in a five-year educator training and learning commitment to empower middle school teachers.

These select schools will experience the unique opportunity to learn and apply computational thinking through an annual free day of professional development for educators and community night for parents. TCS and Discovery Education have also launched an online program, TECHademy, which will engage teachers nationwide in an exclusive, cost-free, virtual professional development experience that includes curriculum resources, eLearning courses, webinars and more. These resources are aligned to national standards, as well as the recently launched K-12 Computer Science Framework.

Ignite My Future in School builds on TCS' robust community initiatives that have inspired more than two million young people in STEM education and careers. TCS is a founding partner for two national mentoring initiatives in the United States, US2020 and Million Women Mentors. Its flagship student engagement program, TCS goIT, has engaged more than 12,000 middle and high school students across 56 cities in the United States and Canada with hands-on experiences in computer science, inspiring them towards tech careers in all sectors. Moreover, TCS is part of the CSforAll Consortium and has national partnerships with NCWIT, NPower, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, CECP, National 4H Council, Boys Scouts of America, and Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

About Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS)

Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, consulting and business solutions organization that delivers real results to global business, ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can match. TCS offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT, BPS, infrastructure, engineering and assurance services. This is delivered through its unique Global Network Delivery Model™, recognized as the benchmark of excellence in software development. A part of the Tata group, India's largest industrial conglomerate, TCS has over 389,000 of the world's best-trained consultants in 46 countries. The company generated consolidated revenues of U.S. $17.6 billion for year ended March 31, 2017 and is listed on the BSE Limited and National Stock Exchange of India Limited. For more information, visit us at www.tcs.com. To stay up-to-date on TCS news in North America, follow @TCS_NA. For TCS global news, follow @TCS_News.

About Discovery Education

Discovery Education is the global leader in standards-based digital content for K-12, transforming teaching and learning with award-winning digital textbooks, multimedia content, professional development, and the largest professional learning community of its kind. Serving 4.5 million educators and over 50 million students, Discovery Education's services are in half of U.S. classrooms, 50 percent of all primary schools in the UK, and more than 50 countries. Discovery Education partners with districts, states, and like-minded organizations to captivate students, empower teachers, and transform classrooms with customized solutions that increase academic achievement. Discovery Education is powered by Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK), the number one nonfiction media company in the world. Explore the future of education at DiscoveryEducation.com. Stay connected with Discovery Education on social media through Facebook, follow us on Twitter at @DiscoveryEd, or find us on Instagram and Pinterest.

SOURCE Tata Consultancy Services

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