Technology Education and Literacy in Schools

Technology Education and Literacy in Schools (TEALS) is a program that pairs high schools with software engineers who serve as part-time computer science teachers.

The program was started in 2009 by Microsoft software engineer Kevin Wang. Microsoft incubated the program after Wang's divisional president learned about the program. TEALS' goal is to create self-perpetuating computer science programs within two or three years. Volunteers undergo a three-month summer class that teach them about making lesson plans and leading classes. Afterwards, software engineers visit classrooms four or five mornings a week for the entire school year to teach computer science concepts to both students and teachers.

TEALS volunteers are not required to be Microsoft employees and can have formal degrees or be self-taught in computer science. TEALS offers support for three classes: Introduction to Computer Science, Web Design, and AP Computer Science A.

Kevin Wang graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 2002 with a degree in electrical engineering and computer science. To pursue his teaching passion, he declined several industry job offers. Wang taught in the Bay Area for several years, and attended the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he received a Master of Education. He became a computer science teacher at Woodside Priory School in Portola Valley, California, teaching grades seven–twelve for three years. He convinced fellow Microsoft employees and other acquaintances to teach computer science at other schools. After joining Microsoft, Wang started volunteering to teach the morning computer science class at Issaquah High School, a nearby high school, in 2009.

In 2009, Wang founded Technology Education and Literacy in Schools (TEALS), a program that aims to bring software engineers to high school classrooms to teach computer science part-time. He thought that he would have to resign from Microsoft to oversee the program's significant expansion. Wang sold his Porsche 911 to bankroll the program. After the vice president of Wang's Microsoft division discovered TEALS, the vice president took him to the divisional president who recommended he work full-time at Microsoft on managing TEALS. According to CNN, Microsoft chose to "incubate" TEALS for three primary reasons. First, the program fit with Microsoft's philanthropic goals. Second, Microsoft founder Bill Gates had an enduring desire to advocate for learning. Third, the software industry had a shortage of engineers. In a 2012 interview with GeekWire, Wang said TEALS has two long-term goals. The first is to give every American high school student the opportunity to take an introductory computer science course and an AP Computer Science course. The second is to have the same proportion of students taking AP Computer Science as those taking AP Biology, AP Chemistry, and AP Physics.

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