Wyoming Educators Obtain Computational Thinking Principles through Ignite My Future in School

LARAMIE, Wyo. and NEW YORK, Sept. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS), a leading global IT services, consulting and business solutions organization, and Discovery Education, the leading provider of digital education content and professional development for K-12 classrooms, have launched Ignite My Future in School within the Albany County School District. This free professional training event will connect more than 100 local educators with education experts to learn about Ignite My Future in School, understand its purpose and receive hands-on curriculum training.

Recent studies show that less than 45 computer science majors graduate from Wyoming each year and only seven percent of these are women. As recently as 2016, universities in Wyoming did not graduate a single new teacher prepared to teach computer science. Earlier this year, the National Science Foundation awarded nearly $1 million to the University of Wyoming (UW) to support the integration of computer science education in K-8 classrooms and public libraries across the state. This followed a 2018 state legislature mandate to teach computer science in Wyoming's K-12 schools by 2022. To support the state's ambitious goals, TCS is launching Ignite My Future in School to help close the teacher preparedness gap by building the capacity of educators to integrate computational thinking into everyday lessons.

"We are so excited to be able to take part in this learning with Ignite My Future," said Dr Jubal Yennie, Superintendent, Albany County School District #1. "It will be very impactful for our students and teachers. I'm personally looking forward to seeing the Family Night activities in action. What a fantastic opportunity for our students and families to connect with the school in a fun, engaging atmosphere."

Ignite My Future in School offers educators curriculum support through free instructional resources with computational thinking strategies embedded into subjects such as math, sciences, arts, and social studies, housed on a digital platform, and year-round engagement. This interdisciplinary approach enables students to obtain in-demand critical thinking skills for 21^st century careers across all industries.

"In today's digital economy, computational thinking is as foundational as reading, writing and math. We are excited to partner with the State of Wyoming, empowering educators and preparing students to be future ready," said Balaji Ganapathy, Head, Workforce Effectiveness, TCS.

TCS is also working alongside Wyoming's Department of Education to bring goIT, TCS' flagship student-facing STEM education program, to the entire state of Wyoming. In the fall of 2018, goIT piloted its programming with over 300 students in Clear Creek and Kaycee Middle Schools in Buffalo, WY. This year, TCS and the DOE plan to bring goIT to three to five new districts and will host a statewide goIT competition in the spring of 2020.

On a national level, Ignite My Future in School aims to engage 20,000 teachers and one million U.S. students by 2021. As a first step towards this goal, TCS and Discovery Education have already partnered with U.S. school districts in Washington, D.C., Georgia, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Michigan, Wisconsin, Missouri, and California to launch this initiative. Since debuting in 2017, IMFIS has provided value of more than $13.5 million to the U.S. education system and has engaged nearly 550,000 students and over 9,000 educators from all 50 states.

About Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS)
Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, consulting and business solutions organization that has been partnering with many of the world's largest businesses in their transformation journeys for the last fifty years. TCS offers a consulting-led, cognitive powered, integrated portfolio of business, technology and engineering services and solutions. This is delivered through its unique Location Independent Agile delivery model, recognized as a benchmark of excellence in software development.

A part of the Tata group, India's largest multinational business group, TCS has over 436,000 of the world's best-trained consultants in 46 countries. The company generated consolidated revenues of US $20.9 billion in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2019 and is listed on the BSE (formerly Bombay Stock Exchange) and the NSE (National Stock Exchange) in India. TCS' proactive stance on climate change and award-winning work with communities across the world have earned it a place in leading sustainability indices such as the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), MSCI Global Sustainability Index and the FTSE4Good Emerging Index. 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-aligned digital curriculum resources, engaging content, and professional learning for K-12 classrooms. Through its award-winning digital textbooks, multimedia resources, and the largest professional learning network of its kind, Discovery Education is transforming teaching and learning, creating immersive STEM experiences, and improving academic achievement around the globe. Discovery Education's services are available in approximately half of U.S. classrooms and primary schools in the U.K. and reach over 5 million educators and 51 million students in more than 90 countries. Inspired by the global media company Discovery, Inc., Discovery Education partners with districts, states, and like-minded organizations to empower teachers with customized solutions that support the success of all learners. Explore the future of education at DiscoveryEducation.com.

Media Contacts:
Ben Trounson, Tata Consultancy Services, [email protected]
Marguerite Pinheiro, on behalf of Tata Consultancy Services, [email protected]
Charmion N. Kinder, Discovery Education, [email protected]

SOURCE Tata Consultancy Services