Palo Alto Unified and other leading school districts adopt Tynker to teach computer programming

Mountain View, CA - Tynker (www.Tynker.com), a leading Silicon Valley ed-tech startup that helps children learn programming skills, has been selected by Palo Alto Unified and several other school districts across the country to provide computer programming curriculum to their students district-wide, demonstrating rapid adoption of Tynker among U.S. schools as teachers advance integration of technology learning into their academic programs.

Palo Alto Unified, a leading California school district on the forefront of technology integration, is one of many districts nationwide using Tynker to rapidly deploy programming skills across all elementary grades. "Tynker has been widely adopted by our teachers because it is flexible enough to challenge 8th graders who are exploring fairly complex programming concepts, while also supporting students as young as five years old to successfully build simple programs," states Ann Dunkin, CTO of Palo Alto Unified, and a presidential nominee for a key post in the Obama Administration. "Many students who work with Tynker in our schools develop a real interest in computer science and engineering and will be prepared for our rigorous high school computer science program."

To date, over 8 million students and 10,000 schools and districts have started programming with Tynker because of its fun, easy approach to helping children learn to code.

Whether a school district wants to rapidly elevate their primary and middle school programs to integrate 21st century computational thinking skills across all academic areas and grade levels, or provide a structured, scaffolded approach to teaching fundamental programming concepts, Tynker has become the solution of choice.

• Minnetonka Public School District (MN) and Scarsdale Public School District (NY) chose Tynker because of its ability to support project-based learning and motivate students across academic disciplines. Tynker's curriculum and methodology helps students quickly visualize, learn, and apply concepts to create projects that connect their learning across math, science, social science, reading, literature, writing, and art - while also teaching them key technology skills. And because the program progresses year over year, students can build their programming skills over time.
• Computer Science-trained educators in Elk River Area School District (MN) selected Tynker because it meets students' needs right out of the box. Unlike other solutions the district evaluated, Tynker did not need to be tailored to meet the needs of more advanced middle school students. Tynker enables students to rapidly learn programming fundamentals and then continue to progress, providing a smooth on-ramp for them to learn mainstream programming languages such as JavaScript.

In addition to the broad coverage of grade-specific learning objectives that Tynker's curriculum offers, Palo Alto Unified School District (CA) selected Tynker for district-wide deployment after observing that even teachers without coding experience were able to get up and running fast, and students were able to progress at their own pace. Many of their teachers have already integrated Tynker into classroom lessons, and have discovered that coding with Tynker is a very popular lunchtime and after-school activity.

"Schools are under tremendous pressure to prepare our kids for success in high school, college, and the job market, and programming skills are becoming essential to that success," says Krishna Vedati, Tynker's CEO. "We will continue to support schools with flexible learning programs that help them easily integrate technology skills into their curricula, meet new educational standards, and advance their mission of helping kids achieve their full potential."

About Tynker

Tynker inspires children to create with code in a visual, intuitive and imaginative way. Tynker builds a strong foundation in STEM skills (science, technology, engineering, and math) and other critical thinking abilities, preparing children for 21st century degrees, careers and lives. Tynker's innovative visual programming language, guided self-paced tutorials, game-like learning experience, and engaging Creativity Suite tools inspire children to create apps, games and more to publish and share on web and mobile devices.

Tynker was founded by a seasoned team of technology entrepreneurs who share the passion for giving children the critical life skills needed to become leaders in the technologies of tomorrow. Tynker is based in Mountain View, CA, and is backed by 500 Startups, Cervin Ventures, Felicis Ventures, GSV Capital, NEA, New School Ventures, and prominent angel investors.