CS 10K: Leveraging Teach For America's National Infrastructure to Build a Pipeline of High-Quality Computer Science Instructors in Low-Income Communities

Teach For America, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

Teach For America (TFA) proposes a project to bring computer science to the low-income high schools they serve. TFA is guided by the mission that "one day, all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education." Motivated by the desire to alleviate educational disparities that exist for the students in low-income communities, TFA views access to high quality computer science education as a key organizational priority. Over the next three years, TFA has plans to build the national capacity, infrastructure, and knowledge of computer science (CS) education from the expansion of our current New York-based computer science pilot -- EAGER: Increasing the Supply of High-Quality Computer Science Instructors to Low-Income Communities -- to at least 6 new regional sites and a total of 100 new computer science (CS) educators. This CS 10K planning grant will continue the preliminary work to put TFA in a position to increase and broaden participation in CS education -- attracting new talent and reaching underserved student populations -- and create a scalable, sustainable foundation for future growth and deepened understanding of CS educator development. The planning process will (1) recruit leaders with computer science backgrounds to teach in low-income public schools, (2) train and support those teachers to implement the Exploring Computer Science (ECS) curriculum, (3) develop and implement strategies for engaging TFA alumni educators in expanding the collective impact of this work, and (4) develop an evaluation plan. The evaluation will refine two questions: (1) To what extent does information on people gathered at various stages (recruit, applicant, accepted applicant, matriculating applicant) on the road to becoming a successfully placed computer science teachers predict progress on this road, and what strategies promote such progress? (2) What are the relationships among resource issues (school computers, student poverty), teachers' reported struggles and victories in teaching the ECS curriculum, and student outcomes in both cognitive and non-cognitive domains?