Applying the Five Dimensions of Effectiveness Framework to Evaluate the Effectiveness of a Research Practice Partnership Aimed at Increasing Equity in Computer Science Education (original) (raw)
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Proceedings of the 2019 Research on Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT), 2019
Equity is arguably an agreed upon value within the Computer Science education (CSed) community, and perhaps even more so within efforts to universalize access to CSed within K12 settings through emerging ‘CS for All’ initiatives. However, stakeholders often mean different things when referring to equity, with important implications for what CS teaching and learning looks like in schools. In this paper, we explore the question of how K12 school district actors’ conceptualizations of equity manifest within their planning and implementation of district-wide CSed initiatives. Based on a research-practice partnership aimed at supporting and researching district-wide CSed initiatives, data presented - interviews with district faculty, district planning documents, meeting transcripts and field observations - were drawn from five participating school districts as they made decisions and enacted activities over 11 months in areas including vision-setting, curriculum, professional development, leadership efforts and use of formative data about implementation. Analyzing these data through equity frameworks found in CSed literature, we highlight three distinct but interconnected ways that district actors conceptualized equity within their CSed initiatives: (1) equity in who Computer Science is for, (2) equity in how Computer Science is taught, and (3) equity in what Computer Science is taught. Data show that these varied conceptualizations resulted in different kinds of decisions about CSed in districts. We discuss the implications of these findings in terms of their relevance to equity-oriented CS education researchers, and what lessons they hold for policy-makers and education leaders engaged in their own efforts to support equitable computer science education.
Preparing School Leaders to Advance Equity in Computer Science Education
Journal of Computer Science Integration, 2021
Background and Context: Most large-scale statewide initiatives of the Computer Science for All (CS for All) movement have focused on the classroom level. Critical questions remain about building school and district leadership capacity to support teachers while implementing equitable computer science education that is scalable and sustainable. Objective: This statewide research-practice partnership, involving university researchers and school leaders from 14 local education agencies (LEA) from district and county offices, addresses the following research question: What do administrators identify as most helpful for understanding issues related to equitable computer science implementation when engaging with a guide and workshop we collaboratively developed to help leadership in such efforts? Method: Participant surveys, interviews, and workshop observations were analyzed to understand best practices for professional development supporting educational leaders. Findings: Administrators ...
Journal of Computer Science Integration, 2018
In this article, we use evidence to describe seven key lessons from a four-year district-wide computer science implementation project between Howard University and the District of Columbia Public Schools. These lessons are: (a) Get to know the school counselors (and other key personnel); (b) Expect personnel changes and strategic reorganization within school districts; (c) Be innovative to build and maintain community; (d) Be flexible when developing instruments and curricula; (e) Maintain a firm commitment to equity; (f) Develop tiered content and prepare to make philosophical adjustments; and (g) Identify markers of sustainability. We also include original curricula materials including the Computer Science Course Evaluation and the Computational Thinking Survey. The seven lessons and curricula materials provided in this study can be used to inform the development of future computer science researcher-practitioner partnerships.
Proceedings of the 51st ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education
The Exploring Computer Science (ECS) curriculum provides foundational knowledge of Computer Science (CS) to high school students as a stand-alone course. ECS began in the Los Angeles Unified School District in the late 2000s where it gained eminence for broadening participation in computing (BPC), with Latinx students representing over 70% of enrollment. This experience report describes a partnership that consists of three Universities, dozens of school districts, the ECS team, and other stakeholders to bring the ECS curriculum in mainly rural school districts in Alabama that have a majority African-American student population. Sixty in-service teachers (one teacher per school) have received professional learning opportunities to gain knowledge and skills to teach ECS. Signs of early broader impacts are emerging: 78% of our ECS enrollment are underrepresented minority (URM) students with nearly half of the cohort consisting of female students. Students reported they were engaged in working collaboratively and sharing responsibilities with others. Furthermore, students who reported being more involved in the ECS course had deeper confidence in their ability to succeed in CS, reported greater overall outcomes, had more confidence in development of 21 st century skills, found the course more relevant, were more motivated to persist in CS, and exhibited increased interest in CS careers. We provide a comprehensive description of the partnership's accomplishments and the evaluation findings on student CS experiences and on teacher self-efficacy in ECS preparation and instruction. Our findings contribute to the BPC literature, specifically for schools with predominantly African-American enrollment in rural communities.
Diversity Barriers in K-12 Computer Science Education
Proceedings of the 2017 ACM SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education
As computer science (CS) education expands at the K-12 level, we must be careful to ensure that CS neither exacerbates existing equity gaps in education nor hinders efforts to diversify the field of CS. In this paper, we discuss structural and social barriers that influence Blacks, Hispanics, and girls, based on surveys of 1,672 students, 1,677 parents, 1,008 teachers, 9,805 principals, and 2,307 superintendents in the United States. We find that despite higher interest in CS among Black and Hispanic students and parents, these students experience greater structural barriers in accessing computers and CS classes than White students. And while girls have the same access as boys, social barriers exist with girls reporting lower awareness of CS opportunities outside of classes, less encouragement from teachers and parents, and less exposure to CS role models in the media. It is critical for expanding CS opportunities to address the unique issues for each group.
Computer Science for Equity: Teacher Education, Agency, and Statewide Reform
Frontiers in Education
This paper reports on a statewide "Computer Science for All" initiative in Oregon that aims to democratize high school computer science and broaden participation in an academic subject that is one of the most segregated disciplines nationwide, in terms of both race and gender. With no statewide policies to support computing instruction, Oregon's legacy of computer science education has been marked by both low participation and by rates of underrepresented students falling well-below the already dismal national rates. The study outlined in this paper focuses on how teacher education can support educators in developing knowledge and agency, and impacting policies and practices that broaden participation in computing. In particular, this research seeks to understand two questions. First, how do teachers experience equity-focused professional development in preparation for teaching an introductory course in computer science? Second, this study queries, how do teachers understand their own agency in influencing policies and practices that broaden participation in their specific schools and classrooms? To answer these questions, this inquiry employed a mixed method approach, drawing from surveys, observations, and interview data of two cohorts of teachers who participated in the Exploring Computer Science professional development program. To show the variety of school contexts and situate computer science education in local and place-based policies and practices, three teacher case studies are presented that illustrate how individual teachers, in diverse geographic and demographic settings, are building inclusive computer science opportunities in their schools. The findings reveal that centering equity-focused teacher professional development supports teachers in formulating the confidence, knowledge and skills that lead to inclusive computer science instruction, computer science content, and equity-centered pedagogy. The findings also highlight how school reform in computer science requires not only technical and pedagogical supports and structures, but also a systemic rethinking and reworking of normative and political forces that are part of the fabric of schools. Based on these findings of teacher knowledge and agency, the paper concludes with a presentation of particular statewide policies and practices that are generative in broadening belief systems and expanding political capacity of computer science education to reach all students.
International Journal of Computer Science Education in Schools
This article reports on implementation of a problem-based learning intervention developed with the intention of finding time for computer science (CS) in the elementary school day. This study investigated differences in effects on students in particular socio-demographic groups using a quasi-experimental design. We first provide an overview of the perennial problem of group differences or “gaps” in student outcomes. Then we illustrate how, using component-based research (CBR), we moved beyond the question of whether the intervention worked, to focus on which parts of the intervention worked, for whom, and under what conditions. Using hierarchical linear modeling, this study draws from a sample of 16 elementary schools with 321 teachers and 5791 students in Broward County, Florida, the sixth largest school system in the United States. This study complements a previous paper (Authors, 2020), which examined associations between intervention components and student outcomes by investigat...
Journal of computer science integration, 2023
As computer science (CS) education becomes more prevalent in K-12 instruction, it is critical for educators, researchers, and curriculum developers to identify culturally responsive and pedagogically inclusive approaches that can increase participation, access, and feelings of belonging for students from historically marginalized communities. In response, we developed an equity-centered curricular framework and illustrative crosswalk that synchronizes three distinct pedagogical approaches: culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP), Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and project-based learning (PBL). We describe the framework's theoretical underpinnings and explain how this framework informed the development of an integrated elementary science+CS curricular unit and provide examples of its implementation. Next, we describe the relationship between our framework, the integrated curricular unit, and educative materials designed to help teachers use the lessons and transform their practice. Finally, we highlight the framework's potential for broader implementation in the quest to promote equitable CS instruction grounded in the experiences and perspectives of diverse student populations. The crosswalk is a graphical representation of the framework that communicates relationships amongst the elements in a digestible and practical way. This Equity-Centered Curricular Crosswalk addresses both lesson features and teacher practices, to underscore our belief that the responsibility of equity-based pedagogy should not be solely borne by teachers. As educators, researchers, and curriculum developers consider their interconnected roles and responsibilities in the enactment of CRP and UDL, the crosswalk provides an important link between equitybased instructional theories and the realities of classroom practices.
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Effective and equitable CS teaching is contingent on teachers' robust understanding of equity issues in CS classrooms. To this end, this study examined high school teachers' perceptions of equity during their participation in a CS teacher certificate program over two years. The participants are from various disciplines and from schools that serve under-represented students. Using a qualitative approach, we conducted content analysis of the teachers' written reflections and responses to semi-structured interviews. Based on the justice-centered framework, we analyzed the major themes that emerged from the content analysis. The findings provide insights into high school CS teachers' understanding of equity, the strategies that teachers use to address equity issues, and how teachers interpret the causes of inequities in CS classrooms. This research presents frameworks for examining teachers' conceptualization of equity and can inform the implementation of future professional development programs for CS teachers.