Piping In(Out) of High Computer Science Curricula: Magnet School Lenses and Influencing Factors

North Carolina State University, Raleigh NC

Investigators

Abstract

Piping In(Out) of High School Computer Science Curricula: Magnet School Lenses and Influencing Factors addresses the relationship between the availability of computer science courses in high school and equitable access to those courses. On the heels of the CSforAll initiative, K-12 school districts across the country are developing an infrastructure to design and deliver rigorous CS education for the nearly 50,000,000 students in U.S. public schools. In places where CS courses already exist, students of color are often not enrolled, raising the distinction between availability and access. Piping In(Out) of Computer Science examines the relationship between availability and access in two magnet schools in Wake County North Carolina. The schools have significant representation of students of color, but their enrollment in the CS courses is not representative of their population in the schools. Because the high schools are magnet, all students are high achievers and many of the extracurricular arguments for lack of enrollment for students of color in advanced technical courses do not hold. This study examines the school structures that affect equitable student engagement in computer science in schools that do not have the challenge of availability. As school districts around the country prepare for the implementation of CSforAll, Piping In(Out) of CS offers insights into equitable deployment.