This ITR- and ITWF-sponsored research project seeks to understand the institutional, contextual constraints and opportunities that affect underrepresented minority students' decisions to study (or not study) computer science at the high school level. The researchers will investigate how the computer science pipeline gets constructed. "Technological portraits" for three Los Angeles public high schools will be developed and in-depth interviews will be conducted with approximately forty district-level technology administrators, principals, counselors, computer science and math teachers, and technology and magnet coordinators at these three schools. Each of these three schools has a high numbers of African-American and Latino/a students.
The researchers will study the perceptions and thinking of those who help to construct the pipeline-namely, state, district, and local educators. In particular, they will focus on 1) educators' perceptions of what a computer science curriculum should be for their students; 2) the courses and curriculum sequences that these educators shape; 3) the criteria they use to judge which students should study computer science and which are not capable of success ; and 4) how these norms and structures that influence the construction of the pipeline translate into educators' role in shaping students' course-taking choices. Dissemination of findings is an important part of this proposal and the investigators will hold on-going discussions with school educators about these issues. Printed materials will be produced for distribution in the three schools, and meetings/discussions will be held with the teachers about the research findings. The findings will be disseminated nationally.
