A State-Wide Effort to Provide Access to Authentic Computer Science Education to Underrepresented Populations (original) (raw)
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Promoting and Supporting Computer Science Among Middle School Girls of Color
Proceedings of the 51st ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, 2020
BRIGHT-CS (Building Student Retention through Individuated Guided coHort Training in Computer Science) is a research and development project that 1) creates a computer science learning ecosystem for middle school Black girls and other girls of color and 2) researches the merits of the ecosystem in supporting persistence in CS to determine best practices for broadening participation to other marginalized student groups in computing. First, this paper describes the BRIGHT-CS program, from the structural, instructional, and curricular designs of the program to partnerships with local and community organizations that make up the ecosystem. Second, it presents the initial findings of research on the program and its impacts on student outcomes such as social-emotional attributes associated with persistence. The study employs a multi-method descriptive design. Data includes student surveys, interviews (from students, parents, instructors, teachers, and mentors), artifact reviews, and student observations. The study includes 46 students across four middle schools in two states. At the start of the program, 37% of the students reported being very interested in CS, and 72% reported being very confident in learning CS. This is much higher than a national benchmark of students. After four months of program implementation, the qualitative results show a more nuanced picture of the value of a learning ecosystem. First, the ecosystem offers implicit messaging about equity and success. Second, the ecosystem offers explicit messaging about personal challenges and improvement. Third, following the implicit and explicit messaging to students, students went from naïve confidence to authentic self-efficacy in CS.
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.
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.
Learning, Media and Technology
Despite the fact that computer science (CS) is the driver of technological innovations across all disciplines and aspects of our lives, including participatory media, high school CS too commonly fails to incorporate the perspectives and concerns of low-income students of color. This article describes a partnership program – Exploring Computer Science (ECS) – that directly counters this problem in our nation’s second largest school district. With a mission of democratizing CS learning, we argue that despite the constraints of working within public schools, it is imperative to do so. We discuss the ECS program based on inquiry, culturally relevant curriculum, and equity-oriented pedagogy. We describe two ECS-affiliated projects that highlight the importance of authorship, purpose, and agency for student learning and engagement: DietSens using mobile technology to study community health, and a project in which students create video games about social issues. Our work offers a counter-narrative to those who have written off the possibilities of working within public schools and a debunking of the too widespread myth within our educational system that females and students of color are inherently uninterested in rigorous CS learning.
The impact of meaningful high school computer science experiences in the Chicago Public Schools
2015 Research in Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT), 2015
We report on initial outcomes of the Taste of Computing project, under which a meaningful computer science course has been initiated in many high schools of the Chicago Public Schools system. Surveys of students have shown that they attribute high value to the course and have experienced increases in their understanding and interest regarding the computing field. Data was also collected from teachers participating in professional development regarding their preparation and confidence in teaching the new course. We report on the strengths of various survey responses and their relationships, and we compare student responses by race and gender. The data provide a good basis for exploring the impact of meaningful computer science instruction on students from groups underrepresented in computing; of several hundred students surveyed, nearly half were female, and over half were Hispanic or African-American.
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.
Computer Science Education, 2020
Background and Context: Though computer science education is marked by a pronounced racial participation gap, there is little research about effective ways that teachers can be supported in creating racially-just and equitable computer science learning opportunities for students. Objectives: This paper examines how teachers engage in learning about race and equity in computer science education during professional development. Method: Drawing from data collected from 94 participants attending a summer week-long Exploring Computer Science workshop, this mixed-methods study revealed how key curricular and instructional features of professional development foster race-conscious discussions and shifts in beliefs and agency around broadening participation in computing. Findings: Given the importance of developing teacher capacity to increase opportunities for students of color in computing classrooms, the findings of this study highlight how intentionally integrating race education in the center of professional development for teachers can support teachers' equity-based beliefs and practices. Implications: Professional development for teachers that seeks to broaden participation in computing is supported by long-term professional learning that explicitly center issues of race and equity in the curriculum.
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.