Tech folks are presently promoting “coding for all”. This Ars Technica article summaries the decline in student interest in coding. For many this decline in an age of the role of technology makes little sense. I recommend the article for a quick overview.
I do disagree with one position taken;
there are few, if any, studies that have looked at how studying computer science or learning to code affects one’s ability to think
I have written about coding in the classroom since the mid 1990s. Early on, our textbook had a chapter on coding and then we dropped the chapter when “focus groups” conducted by the publisher indicated this was a chapter few classes for preservice teachers covered. We now include relevant content in our Kindle book (a few resources online).
Returning to the claim made about a lack of research – there was research on the topic of whether LOGO developed higher level thinking skills. Several integrative reviews exit. As I remember the conclusions, transfer depends on considerable experience applied to a variety of tasks and few K-12 students have had such experiences. Issues of coding as a type of computer literacy may be different.
One additional fact I remember from reviewing the literature is that few states a HS comp sci course as a way to meet math or science graduation requirements. This may result in a chicken and egg problem for many schools. Not enough students are interested in taking courses and hence fewer schools make the commitment to offer.