The Research and Evaluation Group at CEMSE (Center for Elementary Mathematics and Science Education) at the University of Chicago will support the CS 10K effort by contributing to a necessary knowledgebase for CS 10K success through the following project goals: (1) Informing CS 10K leaders and other CS educators about the supports and barriers to wide scale high school CS education implementation and providing strategies for addressing them; (2) Providing tools for measuring CS program implementation and the supports and barriers that affect implementation; and (3) Creating products from research findings and recommendations about implementing and growing CS education. This project builds on CEMSE's previous NSF work rigorously studying implementation of educational innovations (new practices and programs) and the factors that affect innovation implementation and sustainability.
The research team will accomplish the project goals by examining implementation of the Exploring Computer Science (ECS) program and identifying the supports for, and barriers to implementation in several large school districts. Specifically, the project will rigorously study ECS implementation in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC with a focus on the factors that currently affect ECS use, with particular attention to how and why these factors vary in the different contexts. The study will focus three research questions: (1) What is the status of ECS implementation in each site?; ( 2) What supports and barriers contribute to or inhibit the implementation and endurance of ECS?; and (3) To what extent do these supports and barriers differ by location and over time? The team will employ a mixed-methods research design using data collected through teacher and student questionnaires; ECS developer, school district personnel, school leader, and teacher interviews; and student focus groups.
Researchers will work collaboratively with CS 10K project leaders, CS education advisors, and school and district practitioners to produce findings and share timely and useful information with involved stakeholders through publication, presentations, on-line reports, webinars, and in-person discussions. The study will highlight the challenges to systemic efforts to increase accessibility, quality and quantity of high school CS education and offer recommendations to meet those challenges, ultimately helping the K-12 CS community bring needed programs into schools, and support lasting, systemic change.
