Native American students perform two to three grade levels below their white peers in reading and mathematics, and they are twice as likely to drop out of school.¹ But this didn’t stop Lance West from earning his college degree in secondary education, even after the birth of his son at 17.  

Now he’s the principal of his tribe’s elementary school in Walker River Reservation, Nevada, with a drive to provide a positive educational experience for his students. Knowing Nevadan math scores were the lowest in the country, Lance sought a way to engage his classes outside of the current curriculum. So, he turned to Code.org. 

Founder and CEO Hadi Partovi believes every student in every school should have the chance to learn computer science. Nonprofit Code.org reaches these students with a combination of creating online courses and training existing teachers to teach their own coding classes.  

Cisco partners with Code.org, helping the foundation provide these courses on their website for free. And with intense global interest in AI, computer science is more relevant than ever before.  

To spark that computer science interest with Native American Code.org users, product manager Amy Woodman developed a “Star Quilt” module alongside a fellow indigenous teacher. For Lance, the difference in engagement was night and day. “I saw how students were engaged and hands-on from literally day one,” says Lance, whose favorite reaction to hear from his students is, “This is easy!” 

Click the above BBC StoryWorks video to learn more about the Star Quilt module and its impact on Lance’s students. Explore the many online courses Code.org has to offer by visiting their website and learn more on how Code.org is helping educators embrace AI in the classroom at TeachAI.org. 

For more information about Cisco and their successful mission to impact one billion people, visit One Billion Lives.  

Explore the many online courses Code.org has to offer by visiting their website and learn more on how Code.org is helping educators embrace AI in the classroom at TeachAI.org.

Cisco Systems, Inc.

Cisco Systems, Inc.

About Cisco 
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in technology that powers the internet. Cisco inspires new possibilities by reimagining your applications, securing your data, transforming your infrastructure, and empowering your teams for a global and inclusive future. Discover more on The Network and follow us on Twitter.

About Cisco's Purpose 
Cisco’s purpose is to Power an Inclusive Future for All. From increasing access to skills needed to thrive in a digital economy to supporting the most vulnerable in times of crisis, we’re committed to using our technology for good. Cisco is also leveraging our scale and innovation to help ensure that our increasingly digital future is sustainable, inclusive, and resilient.

More from Cisco Systems, Inc.