The purpose of this project is to improve the participation and success of African-American, Latino/a, and Female high school students in computing. In particular, the project concentrates on the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the second largest and one of the most diverse school districts in the country.
Most current high school computer science courses, curriculum, and pedagogy do not engage students with innovative, interdisciplinary applications in computing. The computer science pipeline is losing traditionally underrepresented students prior to college. By college, at the nations PhD-granting departments of computer science and engineering, just 7% of the computer science degrees are awarded to African-American and Latino/as of both sexes and just 17% to women (Taulbee Survey, 2006).
This project builds on several successful activities from the past that the project team engaged in involving preparation of the targeted students for success in the computer science AP exam. While there is national recognition that the AP exam may suffer from a narrow programming view of CS, it is important to assure that there is equal access to AP CS for all students and that teachers are qualified to teach this college preparatory course. In addition, however, the project team is expanding the scope of their activities to transcend focused preparation for AP. They will participate in the design of more engaging computer science courses that will also qualify as part of a new core college-prepared/career-ready curriculum.
The implementation plan for this project addresses what is involved in the process of expanding rigorous learning opportunities to underrepresented students; what schools must provide to maximize student success in these higher-level learning opportunities and what more is needed; the role of alliances and how they are built and sustained; and the extent to which a school district and individual schools either embrace the innovations or possibly push back against them. This project to broaden participation in computing takes into account the larger context of urban education and educational reform. This project identifies critical factors around which a national model for introducing and sustaining computer science education reform can coalesce.
While the specific focus of the Into the Loop Alliance is on K-12 computer science education, our alliance addresses critical intellectual and policy challenges pertaining to all of STEM education. Paramount is the need for broadening participation and developing research-based models for addressing this underrepresentation. Computer science (CS) is driving innovation across all fields and changing every aspect of our world, yet educational opportunities in our nation’s underserved high schools are lacking, especially in schools with high numbers of low-income African-American and Latino students. Into the Loop has filled this critical gap nationwide by: 1. Building a K-12/University partnership involving the second largest and one of the most diverse districts in the country (Los Angeles Unified School District) to address this issue. This partnership has become a model for other districts nationwide. 2. Creating a college-preparatory curriculum, Exploring Computer Science, that is focused on computational thinking –-the problem-solving at the core of computer science. See: www.exploringcs.org/curriculum 3. Broadening Participation in Computing--- The Exploring Computer Science participation rates are a remarkable contrast to the narrow demographics of the other available college-preparatory CS class, AP CS. Comparing California and National APCS and LAUSD ECS Participation Rates (2011-12) GROUPS AP COMPUTER SCIENCE TEST TAKERS (CA) AP COMPUTER SCIENCE TEST TAKERS (NATIONAL) ECS STUDENTS (LAUSD) AFRICAN AMERICAN 45 OUT OF 3,920 1% OF THE TOTAL 1,266 OUT OF 24,782 5% OF THE TOTAL 200 OUT OF 2,136 9% OF THE TOTAL LATINO 314 OUT OF 3,920 8% OF THE TOTAL 2,350 OUT OF 24,782 9% OF THE TOTAL 1,649 OUT OF 2,136 77% OF THE TOTAL FEMALE 833 OUT OF 3,920 21% OF THE TOTAL 4,635 OUT OF 24,782 19% OF THE TOTAL 923 OUT OF 2,136 43% OF THE TOTAL Note: LAUSD population includes 73% Latino and 10% African American students. 4. Building a Model Program for Exploring Computer Science Teacher Professional Development and Learning Community Into the Loop has created an ECS professional development and learning community model that focuses on both content and pedagogical knowledge, including issues of inquiry, equity, broadening participation, CS content and teacher reflection. 5. Initiating Statewide Policy campaign to sustain these educational reforms---Into the Loop has launched the California Computing Education Advocacy Network (CCEAN) –a network of educators working for policy changes that will help sustain the presence and quality of CS education in California schools. 6. Statewide and National Expansion---Into the Loop has provided resources and on-going assistance to other districts in California and nationwide, such as the Chicago Public Schools that has made ECS the foundation course for all 5 Career Technical Education IT strands. Exploring Computer Science projects are also being planned for Washington DC and NYC schools. 7. Leadership in Student Learning Assessment---Authentic assessment metrics designed to measure computational thinking and learning are missing in computer science education. Into the Loop has taken a leadership role in designing these necessary metrics. All of our Into the Loop Alliance activities are aimed at building the capacity within major school districts to offer rigorous and engaging computer science education and to broaden the participation in computing. By developing a new college-preparatory curriculum, a model computer science teacher PD and learning community, innovative assessment models, and policy initiatives that can help sustain this work, we are working to deepen and strengthen the national high school college preparatory infrastructure for computer science education and broadening participation in computing. Broader Implications and Intellectual Merits The importance of our work extends beyond computer science. The issues we are working on are those at the center of our country’s STEM educational crisis: what is effective teaching in STEM, how to assess student learning, how to eliminate the achievement gap, and how to broaden participation and engagement. Into the Loop has provided a national research-based model for addressing underrepresentation in STEM. Our model includes a three-pronged approach that addresses technical issues (curriculum, teacher pedagogy), belief systems, and the policy needed in the field of computer science. The successes and challenges we have had locally, in the second largest school district in the country, and expansion nationwide is an important case study for other STEM initiatives.
