Impact at Skill Struck

Product Updates

From new coding pathways to AI-powered teaching tools, our product team has been busy making big strides. Here’s a look at the major updates we released in 2024 to support even more engaging, accessible, and effective learning experiences.

C O M P U T E R S C I E N C E

In 2024, we continued to improve our K-12 computer science pathway by releasing the 3rd-5th grade tracks, which include coding walkthrough videos, cultural and life connections, and critical thinking skills in the textbooks. We added new courses, such as python turtles, to create a new content pathway for K12th grades that ensures students do not repeat lesson content. In secondary grades, students can follow a web development, software development pathway, or both. Additionally, we made progress on Java and AI-literacy curriculum, which will be available for the 2025/26 school year. We also added puzzle builder challenges in Launch Pad, providing more engaging activities for students. Educators can now assign custom assessments to multiple sections and share their assessments with other educators, improving collaboration and flexibility in planning. Additionally, we gave our lesson plans a refresh and updated our manage assessments page, making it easier for educators to manage and access resources.

T Y P E S T A T I O N

In Type Station, we introduced several new AI-powered features. Educators can now use AI to generate adaptive lessons for students. The lessons adjust in real-time to each learner’s level and progress, giving every student a more personalized and effective learning experience, without extra work for teachers. We’ve also integrated AI in the custom assessment creation process, to assist educators with creating content. Students can also have individualized WPM and accuracy settings, with progress being tracked more effectively. Furthermore, we implemented the ‘all-time student progress’ feature, enabling students to resume their lessons exactly where they left off.

C H A T F O R S C H O O L S

2024’s updates to Chat for Schools give educators more control and flexibility in how they use the platform. Educators can now assign tutors to assignments in Canvas, with grade pass-back functionality and the ability to upload PDFs directly to the tutor creator. We also launched the Tutor Bank, allowing teachers to find and use tutors created by other educators. Teachers can now attach a Specialized Tutor to an assignment in Canvas, making it easier to integrate AI tutors into their courses. Additionally, teachers now have the ability to lock student chat access for customizable time periods, and they can lock either Chat or Tutor modes individually or together. The AI Certification Course for educators, which includes 5-10 minute daily activities, was launched to train teachers on using AI chatbots and Chat for Schools to generate classroom content. Finally, to help with navigation across all of our platforms, we launched a new landing page for educators along with a global navigation bar for users. Our team also began working on our SOC 2 Type II report, reinforcing our commitment to maintaining a secure and compliant platform. (We became SOC2 Type II Compliant in Spring of 2025.)

Student and Teacher Engagement in Computer Science

In 2024, students across the country showed us what’s possible when curiosity meets opportunity. Together, they completed over 1.7 million typing lessons, building the foundational digital fluency they’ll need in every future career. They dove into 857,000 curriculum lessons and tackled more than 718,000 coding challenges, transforming classrooms into hubs of creativity and problem-solving. Along the way, they mastered concepts through 734,000 quizzes, advanced through 448,000 checkpoints, and brought code to life with 310,000 Micro:bit hardware challenges.

And because learning should be joyful, they also played over 550,000 educational games on our platform.

And let’s not forget, students submitted an impressive 17,692,784 lines of code through challenge submissions.

Student and Teacher Engagement in AI

In 2024, Skill Struck’s AI platform empowered students and teachers to explore artificial intelligence as a tool for learning, creativity, and problem-solving.

In 2024 alone, learners launched over 135,000 AI chats and sent more than 1 million prompts, experimenting with everything from code debugging to creative writing. Our intelligent AI tutors supported students in 34,000+ one-on-one sessions, helping them gain clarity and confidence. Users created over 9,000 custom tools and 5,000 tutors, building their own AI-powered learning experiences. In total, students engaged with more than 184 million tokens worth of AI-generated insight.

Educator Impact in 2024

Over 242,000 students engaged with our platform in 2024, gaining the skills and confidence to become tomorrow’s creators and problem-solvers. We supported 9,445 teachers, 682 paraeducators, and 261 school administrators with tools and training to bring computer science and AI education to life. At the district level, 7,833 leaders partnered with us to scale programs that make a lasting difference. And through 1,398 code events this year, we celebrated learning, sparked curiosity, and created moments of inspiration that reminded us all why this work matters.

“As a K-5 STEM teacher, Skill Struck has been profound and impactful to both my instructional practices and my students’ learning experiences to enhance their computer science knowledge and skill set. Not only are they learning about digital citizenship and social emotional technological etiquette, but they are also being introduced to computer science skills like typing, coding, programming, data acquisition and real world application and so much more. I appreciate having a curriculum that engages ALL students while preparing them for life long pertinent computer skills that will continue and go beyond their years here.”
Teacher, Colorado

RYAN FRANDSEN, COMPUTER SCIENCE AND BUSINESS IT TEACHER, DAVIS SCHOOL DISTRICT

AI has revolutionized education, but also has made life harder for teachers. Rather than fighting AI, Ryan has used custom tutors in Chat for Schools to create powerful learning experiences, authentic assessments, and customized learning resources for his students. The ability to make his own AI tools with his own resources, personality, and creativity has helped his students do more student-led project-based learning and achieve whole new levels of mastery. “As a teacher, it has been incredibly fulfilling to creatively use AI to try doing new things and differentiate learning for every kid in his class while also holding them more accountable with AI Project Reviews and more complex and fulfilling projects,” says Frandsen.

School Spotlights

PALM BEACH COUNTY

The School District of Palm Beach County is raising the bar for computer science education, and Skill Struck is proud to play a part in their success. Across classrooms, teachers are seeing record-high certification pass rates, and more importantly, students are engaged, confident, and excited about learning to code. “We currently have a 95% pass rate on the KP [Knowledge Pillars] exam using Skill Struck this year. Game changer!” said educator Stacy Rundle.

Others, like Maria Mansoor and Donna Gibson, report 100% pass rates in their classrooms, crediting the platform’s rigorous yet accessible HTML/CSS curriculum for preparing students thoroughly for certification exams. “OMG!! The HTML & CSS Coding SpecialistCertification Prep prepared my students so well,” said Gibson. “I am so thankful for Skill Struck and this program!” Teachers across the district praise the hands-on learning experience.

“Seeing my students light up when they are able to see their coding skills successfully come to life using Skill Struck,” said Jordan Jones, highlighting the joy and curiosity coding has sparked in her classroom. Educators like Deena George also appreciate how Skill Struck saves them hours of prep time: “This program is the best I’ve seen for hands-on projects and application of the concepts we teach.”

From marquee text to animated CSS keyframes, students are going beyond the basics, creating webpages that pop and mastering real-world coding skills. As one teacher put it, “We love all the fancy elements, icons, and advanced CSS styles that are included in the ebook!”

Palm Beach County’s success shows what’s possible when students have the right tools, dedicated teachers, and a curriculum that brings computer science to life.

LAKE SHORE CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT

In the 2023–24 school year, Lake Shore CSD made incredible strides in computer science education using Skill Struck’s AP Computer Science Principles (CSP) curriculum. Despite working with a small class, the district saw an impressive 75% pass rate on the AP CSP exam, far surpassing both the New York state average (60.5%) and the global average (62.3%). Students also outperformed on test content, earning a mean of 53.3 correct answers compared to the state average of 44.6 and the global average of 45.2. Enrollment grew year-over-year, and gender diversity improved, showing real progress in access and engagement.

Even more inspiring: a long-term substitute teacher with no prior experience in programming was able to successfully lead the course thanks to Skill Struck’s intuitive platform. With built-in tools like interactive presentations, auto-graders, games, and standards-aligned lessons, the curriculum reduced prep time and empowered educators to focus on student problem-solving and growth. As Michael Drezek, District Technology Integrator, put it, “To me, it was worth every penny.”

Lake Shore’s success story is a testament to how high-quality tools and passionate educators can break down barriers and bring computer science to life, even in the smallest districts.

Internships at Skill Struck

We’re now in our fourth year of Skill Struck’s Quality Assurance Remote/Virtual Internship Program, and we’re loving it! In 2024, we hosted two intern cohorts, bringing our total to 65 interns across 8 states since the program began.

There are many barriers that can prevent high school students from accessing traditional internships, like after-school jobs, lack of transportation, no personal device at home, dress code expectations, and packed schedules with sports, clubs, and other commitments. That’s why a virtual internship is so impactful: it opens the door for a broader, more diverse group of students.

Our interns test and evaluate computer science or coding courses and share feedback from a student’s perspective. In return, they gain valuable experience on a tech team, build time and project management skills, practice professional communication, grow their networks on LinkedIn, and earn meaningful work experience with no prior coding knowledge required.

One standout intern, Sam S. from the Fall 2024 cohort, submitted an incredible 94 pieces of feedback across three elementary and secondary courses. He made the most of his Skill Struck internship and leveraged the experience to land another internship at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center, advancing his goal of becoming a Computer Engineer.

Industry Certifications for Students

Skill Struck currently offers certification preparation courses for industry exams, directly preparing students to pass these challenging tests. As mentioned above, many of our partner districts have taken advantage of these courses and have seen phenomenal success in their students’ pass rates. Our team prioritizes career readiness by providing opportunities like internships and our comprehensive certification prep courses.

Students can take courses to prepare for:

Python Coding Apprentice (PCA) - by Knowledge Pillars
Information Technology Specialist (ITS) Python - by Certiport
Python Coding Specialist (PCS) - by Knowledge Pillars
Certified Entry-Level Python Programmer (PCEP) - by the Python Institute
HTML & CSS Coding Specialist - by Knowledge Pillars

Skill Struck also offers a Praxis Computer Science preparation course designed to help teachers build confidence and knowledge as they work toward becoming certified to teach computer science.

Looking Forward: A Letter from the CEO

On behalf of the entire Skill Struck team, I want to express our deep gratitude to the school partners across the country who make our mission possible. The work of transforming K–12 education depends on the commitment of educators and district leaders who believe in the power of equitable access to computer science and AI education.

K–12 education stands at a pivotal moment.

On April 23, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order emphasizing AI and Computer Science in education. Two key directives include:

1. Providing professional development for all educators to integrate AI fundamentals across subject areas.

2. Preparing educators to teach foundational computer science and AI in both stand-alone courses and across the curriculum.

Just weeks later, on May 6, I joined hundreds of fellow CEOs in signing the Open Letter from CSforALL and Code.org, advocating for expanded access to K–12 computer science and AI education. The letter draws on research showing:

- One high school computer science course can increase a student’s future wages by 8%, regardless of their career path or college attendance.
- Requiring CS and AI in schools could unlock $660 billion in economic opportunity, close wage gaps, and prepare students for the world they will inherit.

Despite academic and economic uncertainty, the momentum behind computer science and AI education has never been stronger. People understand that technology-based critical thinking is not optional—it’s essential.

Simply put, equipping students with these skills can:

- Improve academic performance in the short term

- Transform income potential in the long term