ITR: Research on Recruiting Middle School Minority and Majority Girls into a High School IT Magnet

University Of Colorado At Boulder, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

EIA - 0220130 Barker, Lecia J. Garvin-Doxas, Ronda K. U. Colorado at Boulder Title: ITR: Research on Recruiting Middle School Minority and Majority Girls into a High School IT Magnet The overarching goal of this ITR-and ITWF-funded project is to increase the participation of women and minorities in the critical professional careers in information technology. Increased participation in information technology (IT) by women and minorities will lead to broader perspectives from which IT products and services are researched, developed, and supported; increased social equity; and greater size and diversity in the IT professional workforce. Prior research shows that middle school is a critical juncture for girls, since it is at middle school when girls begin to make choices more heavily influenced by stereotypical career choices and other culture-based beliefs than their genuine interests. This project is an extensive, triangulated study examining the recruiting messages and methods that persuade middle school girls to enroll in a public computer magnet high school. The magnet offers three information technology tracks and recruits from 22 middle schools in a diverse district serving 71,000 children (55% Hispanic, 21% white, 20% African-American, 3% Asian, 1% Native American). The project takes a communicative approach to the study of recruiting, in which recruiting is considered an act of persuasion. This permits a focus on: the content of messages and how they affect particular audiences (and not others) in particular social contexts; the individual characteristics of the recruiter; and the interactive processes among the recruiter, the recruited, and the social/cultural setting. Since persuasion is a culturally situated accomplishment and therefore will vary by group, data will be gathered, analyzed, and reported according to demographic information. The University of Colorado-Boulder's principal campus-wide academic initiative, the Alliance for Technology, Learning, and Society (ATLAS), provides much of the structure for this project. ATLAS developed an IT certificate program open to all undergraduates (Technology, Arts, and Media certificate) which is attracting a surprisingly high percentage of women. Part of the recruiting research enlists the help of these students and the TAM curriculum. The results of the research will be widely disseminated through conference presentations, publications, and an information web site with special attention to reaching audiences that make policy decisions and can effect real change.