Sonia Koshy - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Sonia Koshy

We would also like to express appreciation to colleagues at the California Department of Educatio... more We would also like to express appreciation to colleagues at the California Department of Education for providing the data for us to analyze and providing support in interpretation of findings, including Karl Scheff and Emily Oliva, and Barbara Murchison, and Nicole Vasgerdsian for the report layout. Finally, we would like to acknowledge the National Science Foundation and Program Officer Fay Payton Cobb for providing support for this project under grant #1748316, and Mitch Kapor and Freada Kapor Klein for generous support of this project.

State of Tech Diversity: The Black Tech Ecosystem, 2022

Technological change, innovation, and disruption is occurring across all industries and significa... more Technological change, innovation, and disruption is occurring across all industries and significantly impacting our economy, our society, and our democracy, but Black communities have yet to benefit from technology’s promise and potential. Despite a decade of attention and recent statements of commitment to racial equity, current data suggests that very little progress has been made in increasing Black representation across all levels of the tech sector. As a result, Black communities are negatively impacted by automation, income inequality, lack of access to wealth creation through investment and entrepreneurship, while the tech products created and deployed create harms through algorithmic bias in education, employment, facial recognition and surveillance, mis/disinformation, and driving polarization, white supremacy and the fracturing of democracy. These disparities are not just harmful to Black communities, rather, this is an issue of significant national importance for meeting economic demands for a diverse and robust tech workforce, innovation in product and company development, and ultimately, global competitiveness. The State of Tech Diversity: The Black Tech Ecosystem report examines the current state of Black representation and inclusion across the four stages of the Leaky Tech Pipeline and concludes with a set of specific recommendations to increase racial equity in the technology ecosystem.

In a year of tragedy, injustice, and upheaval, have we seen progress in the quest for racial justice in technology?, 2021

On May 25, 2020, the world had been shaken by the brutal murder of George Floyd that forced a rec... more On May 25, 2020, the world had been shaken by the brutal murder of George Floyd that forced a reckoning with our country's history of racism, and led to subsequent calls for systemic change to finally address longstanding racial inequities across the United States. In the following weeks and months, companies across the nation issued statements of solidarity and pledged approximately 50Btowardracialequityinitiatives,withasignificantcommitmentcomingfromthetechsector.Bigtechcompanies,Amazon,Apple,Facebook,Google,Microsoft,Netflix,andTwitter,committedover50B toward racial equity initiatives, with a significant commitment coming from the tech sector. Big tech companies, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Netflix, and Twitter, committed over 50Btowardracialequityinitiatives,withasignificantcommitmentcomingfromthetechsector.Bigtechcompanies,Amazon,Apple,Facebook,Google,Microsoft,Netflix,andTwitter,committedover626M towards racial equity efforts. These commitments included donations to civil rights organizations, the launch of initiatives to support Black-owned businesses and entrepreneurs, investing in financial institutions lending to Black borrowers, commitments to historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), and initiatives supporting the development of coding and tech skills. Tech company investment arms, venture capital firms, and financial services firms launched large funds to invest in entrepreneurs of color, including PayPal's 500MEconomicOpportunityFund,SoftBank′s500M Economic Opportunity Fund, SoftBank's 500MEconomicOpportunityFund,SoftBank′s100M Opportunity Fund, and Goldman Sachs $10B One Million Black Women initiative.

Teacher Perspectives on COVID-19’s Impact on K-12 Computer Science Instruction, 2020

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced teachers nationwide to transition hastily to emergency distance... more When the COVID-19 pandemic forced teachers nationwide to transition hastily to emergency distance learning environments, concerns about educational equity and access emerged. The Kapor Center and the Computer Science Teachers Association surveyed nearly 3,700 K-12 computer science teachers, to understand how the transition to virtual learning has impacted K-12 computing education.

Key findings include:

While only 18% of all teachers reported temporarily suspending computer science instruction, higher rates were reported for schools serving rural, low-income, and URM (Black, Latinx, Indigenous) students:

24% of teachers in high-poverty schools had to suspend instruction (vs. 14% in low-poverty schools).

Teachers in rural schools had to suspend instruction at a rate over twice as high (34%) as those in urban schools (17%).

21% of teachers at high-URM schools had to suspend instruction (vs. 17% in low-URM schools).

42% of all teachers identified distance learning as a “major” challenge to instruction, with teachers of rural, low-income, and URM students more likely to face these challenges:

54% of teachers at high-URM schools indicated distance learning is a major challenge (vs. 38% in low-URM schools).

52% of teachers in high-poverty schools indicated distance learning is a major challenge (vs. 36% in low-poverty schools).

48% of teachers in rural schools indicated distance learning is a major challenge (vs. 42% in urban schools).

The disruption caused by emergency distance learning poses a risk to equitable computer science education for students of color, low- income students, and rural communities. The report concludes with a set of 4 recommendations for policymakers, educators, industry leaders, and school districts to support high-quality computer science instructional efforts in the current crisis and to ensure we emerge as a more equitable nation.

The Black Technology Workforce: Designing a More Inclusive Future, 2021

Overall data trends across the tech industry show a disparity in Black representation across the ... more Overall data trends across the tech industry show a disparity in Black representation across the ecosystem. Since 2014, advocacy groups (including the Congressional Black Caucus and the Rainbow PUSH Coalition), journalists, researchers, tech employees, and numerous other stakeholders have played a significant role in pushing for data transparency in an effort to increase attention to the issue of the underrepresentation of Black talent in the tech workforce. Yet, actual progress on Black representation in the tech workforce has been negligible. From 2014-2020, in aggregate, there has been only a 1 percentage point increase in Black representation among the top tech companies, and individually, there has been very slow progress.

The California Computer Science Access Report, 2021

Because technology fuels California’s economy, computer science (CS) education has become foundat... more Because technology fuels California’s economy, computer science (CS) education has become foundational to the success of its future workforce. With California’s leading role in the tech sector, it must also lead the way in preparing the next generation of students to succeed in this future state of the world. Yet, this report indicates that while some progress has been made to ensure its current student body is equipped to participate and thrive in the new digital future, much work remains to increase equity in access and enrollment, particularly among Black, Indigenous, Latinx students as well as girls.

Expanding the Latinx Tech Pipeline: The Time for action is now, 2021

As the COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted America’s economic and social life, it also exposed l... more As the COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted America’s economic and social life, it also exposed long-lived inequities across racial and ethnic groups. Latinx, together with Black Americans, disproportionately shouldered the burden of this far-reaching crisis. Overrepresented in frontline positions, both groups were among the most severely affected in terms of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. The pandemic also took its toll in terms of job loss and business closures, with Latinx and Black workers and business owners once again affected the most.

This report introduces the Leaky Tech Pipeline Framework, explores data on underrepresentation an... more This report introduces the Leaky Tech Pipeline Framework, explores data on underrepresentation and barriers to diversity, and provides a roadmap for comprehensive interventions and solutions to increase racial and gender diversity across the tech ecosystem.

Proceedings of the 53rd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 2, 2022

The technology sector remains one of the fastest growing industries across the nation and continu... more The technology sector remains one of the fastest growing industries across the nation and continues to rapidly permeate all facets of society. The next generation of the computing workforce must be equipped with the skills to examine how existing systems exacerbate inequities, while developing the competencies to build new, more equitable innovations. To enable this shift, computer science (CS) instruction needs to develop not only students' computing identities and computational thinking, but also critical thinking and ethical reasoning. Educators are key to this transformation, yet little is known about the landscape of K-12 CS educators and how equipped they are to provide equitable CS instruction. To understand the challenges that CS educators face and identify the supports and resources to more effectively equip them to serve a diverse student body, these panelists launched a national landscape survey. This panel of experts from the Kapor Center and the Computer Science Teachers Association will reflect on the survey findings and lead a discussion with the audience about the implications of the data on the future of educational policy, practice, and research to better support CS educators to build more equitable classroom spaces.

Proceedings of the 50th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, 2019

Women of color comprise a critical segment of the United States population, yet they remain under... more Women of color comprise a critical segment of the United States population, yet they remain underrepresented in computing education and the workforce and often overlooked in data collection and reporting, research, and interventions to increase diversity in computing. This panel of researchers will provide an overview of the current challenges facing women of color, and highlight initiatives to develop, test, and scale strategies to improve the outcomes of women of color in computing. This panel aims to increase audience understanding of the challenges and opportunities, while inspiring the audience to take action and apply emerging insights and strategies to their local contexts, in order to improve outcomes for women of color. The intention is that this panel is not merely intended to highlight programs, but more importantly, to begin to strategically, scientifically, and collaboratively improve the outcomes for women and girls of color across the computing pipeline. The intended audience for this panel include K-12 computing educators, computing faculty, education nonprofit leaders, researchers and the philanthropic community.

New directions for youth development, 2011

This article reviews the research literature on teaching and supporting purpose in adolescence an... more This article reviews the research literature on teaching and supporting purpose in adolescence and young adulthood. An extensive search revealed that most studies on youth purpose examine psychological correlates and neglect instructional and social supports. School is an effective context for fostering purpose, yet reported approaches for explicitly instructing for purpose are rare after the early 1990s, reflecting a trend away from a language of purpose as a discrete endeavor in education since at least the 1960s. Furthermore, research on the outcomes of early purpose instruction curricula is not present in empirical journal articles. Nevertheless, a concern for fostering youth purpose has not disappeared from education; rather, it is subsumed under approaches that foster more comprehensive positive student outcomes, such as character, civic engagement, and positive youth development. Key curricular approaches to these outcomes are therefore also reviewed and examined for insights...

Research Perspectives and Future Possibilities, 2011

... of Success and Spirituality JENNI MENON MARIANO, ROBERT W. ROESER, PAULA TAYLOR GREATHOUSE, A... more ... of Success and Spirituality JENNI MENON MARIANO, ROBERT W. ROESER, PAULA TAYLOR GREATHOUSE, AND SONIA S. ISSAC KOSHY ... Macro-Category Micro-Category Examples Personal Connection Prayer and Meditation ???Pray???/ ???Someone who meditates??? ...

APA PsycNET Our Apologies! - The following features are not available with your current Browser c... more APA PsycNET Our Apologies! - The following features are not available with your current Browser configuration. - display, print, save, export, and email selected records - get My List count - save record to My List - get references ...

In order to enhance participation in computer science for girls of color, this study examines the... more In order to enhance participation in computer science for girls of color, this study examines the outcomes of a rigorous out-of-school culturally relevant computer science intervention designed to engage underrepresented students in computing. Findings demonstrated that within-race gender differences exist in early interest in computing. Female students of color demonstrated significantly lower engagement and interest in computing, suggesting that being a member of a marginalized gender group plays a unique role and has a multiplying (negative) effect. Further, there were still significant gender differences in computing engagement after participation in one summer of the computer science intervention. Promising outcomes were revealed among a group of students who chose to enroll in the optional Advanced Placement CS A preparatory course; there were no gender differences in enrollment and completion of the course. In examining longitudinal outcomes, gender is a significant predictor...

In order to inform ongoing efforts to broaden participation in computing, this study examines a C... more In order to inform ongoing efforts to broaden participation in computing, this study examines a CS initiative which provides a three summer sequence of rigorous, culturally relevant, and project based exposure opportunities for underrepresented secondary school students of color. Previous studies demonstrated that the CS initiative increased the rate of majoring in CS in college more than eight fold. This study uses quantitative data from the summer 2017 CS program and subsequent CS academic year data to examine persistence in CS on a more granular scale. In particular, instructional practices, social and emotional learning outcomes, and course taking data are examined to understand the factors which increase student persistence in taking secondary computer science courses. Findings include a significant relationship between social and emotional learning outcomes and persistence in CS for underrepresented students of color and the importance of student participation and relevant ass...

Proceedings of the 50th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education

Efforts to broaden participation in computing address how systemic school structures, educator pr... more Efforts to broaden participation in computing address how systemic school structures, educator preparation, and curriculum can provide inclusive learning spaces for all students. The emerging multiplicity of scholarship in computer science (CS) education forwards diverse voices, perspectives, and positionalities, and together, provide a rich set of evidence-based narratives that can transform K-12 policies and practices. The four projects featured in this panel bring together CS education efforts with varying methodologies focused on equity-oriented pedagogies and learning for all youth across the US. This panel will focus not only on sharing the multi-pronged efforts of the featured projects, but also on developing a shared vision among participants and panelists for what "equity" can and should be in the future of both SIGCSE and CS education as we celebrate SIGCSE's 50th anniversary. By highlighting the work of projects rather than individuals in this panel, audience members will have the opportunity to learn about how collaborative efforts create and examine contexts for equity in CS education across diverse stakeholders, while also providing a richer base for constructing visions of equity that go beyond mere platitudes, toward action items for broadening participation in computing.

Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education

In order to enhance participation in computer science for girls of color, this study examines the... more In order to enhance participation in computer science for girls of color, this study examines the outcomes of a rigorous out-ofschool culturally relevant computer science intervention designed to engage underrepresented students in computing. Findings demonstrated that within-race gender differences exist in early interest in computing. Female students of color demonstrated significantly lower engagement and interest in computing, suggesting that being a member of a marginalized gender group plays a unique role and has a multiplying (negative) effect. Further, there were still significant gender differences in computing engagement after participation in one summer of the computer science intervention. Promising outcomes were revealed among a group of students who chose to enroll in the optional Advanced Placement CS A preparatory course; there were no gender differences in enrollment and completion of the course. In examining longitudinal outcomes, gender is a significant predictor of majoring in computer science in college, with male students much more likely to major in computer science than female students. These findings have important implications for addressing the gender gap in computing, including understanding how the intersection of race and gender presents unique barriers and challenges for women of color in computing, and that interventions to broaden participation in computing must address the unique experiences of women of color.

Journal of Surgical Education