Cybersecurity Education: Availability & Access in Public High Schools

Need

The United States has over 572,000 unfilled cybersecurity ​jobs*. The cybersecurity workforce deficit provides an ​opportunity for high-wage jobs for Americans, which if filled ​will bolster efforts to protect America’s national and ​economic security. Securing the cybersecurity workforce ​starts with ensuring that cybersecurity education and ​career pathways are available and accessible to students.

Data

Findings are based on a sample of 47% of Public High ​Schools in the United States, resulting in a 99.99% ​confidence level. Using purposive sampling, data were ​collected from: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, ​Kentucky, Illinois, Maryland, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and ​Virginia. Findings are also reported by state.

Research

  • Availability of cybersecurity courses and pathways in U.S. Public High Schools.
  • Number of students who have access to ​cybersecurity in U.S. Public High Schools.
  • Detailed background information on the states and ​schools in the study.

*Cyberseek.org December 2023


Findings

  • ~57% of US Public High schools have computing courses that are a prerequisite/gateway to cybersecurity. Given competition for resources (i.e., teachers, classrooms and graduation requirements), at most ~44% of high school students in the US have access to gateway computing courses.
  • ~15% of US Public High Schools have cybersecurity courses. And nearly half of those have only a single course. The result is that ~3.6% of high school students in the US have access to cybersecurity courses.
  • Pathways are even more limited. ~7.5% of US Public High Schools have enough gateway and cybersecurity courses to make a pathway. The proportion of schools with an actual pathway is less than ~7.5%.

Summary Report

Recommendations

Invest in Cyber Ranges and Virtualizations

Invest in Teacher Professional Development

Invest in Gateway-to-Cybersecurity Courses

Invest in Cybersecurity Courses and Pathways

Catalyze Around a National Set of K-12 Cybersecurity Educational Guidelines/

Standards

Continue Studying the Landscape and Include Measurements of Student Demographics at the Course/

Program Level

State Summary Reports

Click on a state to download a detailed state specific infographic

(Requires registration/login to Teach Cyber Website )

About Us:

DARK Enterprises, Inc. is a small, women-led non-profit dedicated to developing, supporting, and stewarding excellent cybersecurity education at the secondary level. Our mission is to nurture a sustainable cybersecurity education ecosystem by providing resources, training, and support to secondary school educators teaching cybersecurity.


Other Initiatives by DARK Enterprises, Inc.

Research made possible by:

Collaboration with the National Cryptologic Foundation CAE-C: H98230-20-1-0292 Subaward: SA20137; the University of Alabama - Huntsville, and Moraine Valley Community College, Illinois. Murray State University provided support for CyberSuppy Kentucky, The Center for the Future of Arizona provided support for Arizona.

Updated: December 2023