Half of the high schools in the Capital Region do not offer a computer science class, according to report that called for more “computational thinking" in K-12.

Jenny Brundin/ CPR News Adriana Ramírez (L), 16, and Laura García (R), 15, work on creating a code together in an AP Computer Science Principles class at Abraham Lincoln High School.

This week, thousands of events around the world are encouraging computer-coding literacy. "Coding is really about creative self-expression and storytelling," says Mitchel Resnick of MIT's Media Lab.

It’s a strategy that her students at Mendez High, nearly all of whom are Hispanic and poor, seem to appreciate. “I have found more and more students going into computer science not because it ...