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doi:10.1145/3430375 W.R. Adrion, S. Dunton, B. Ericson, R. Fall, C. Fletcher, and M. Guzdial V• Richard Ladner, Column Editor Broadening Participation U.S. States Must Broaden Participation While Expanding Access to Incorporating equity and inclusion in the effort toward access for everyone.

aking sweeping changes to education in the U.S. is difficult because of its highly decentralized primary and secondary Mschool system. Each of the U.S. states and territories makes its own deci- sions about how education is struc- tured. Some of those states push the decision-making to districts and even individual schools. Reforms, such as providing high-quality computer sci- ence (CS) education to all students, require states to engage every school district, if not every school. In order to broaden participation in computing, rather than exacerbate existing inequi- ties as we expand K–12 CS education to more U.S. schools, explicit attention needs to be placed on how equity is ad- dressed and measured in policy, practice, Participation in Computing Alliancesb (BPC) is a priority.1 Supported by addi- and professional development. funded by the National Science Foun- tional NSF funding in 2018, the ECEP Many states are making progress dation. Begun in 2012 (and described 2.0 leadership team continues to build on CS education. As of October 2020, a previous Communications Education on the early work of ECEP while scal- 18 states have started or completed column, “Broadening Access to Com- ing the model of state-level BPC work statewide plans; 37 states have defined puting Education State by State,” in beyond the ECEP states. sh CS standards; 40 states plus the Dis- February 2016), ECEP focuses on state- ECEP member states are making a trict of Columbia have teacher certi- level educational systems and now great strides toward increasing the fication for CS.2 The Expanding Com- works with 22 states and the territory number and diversity of students puting Education Pathways (ECEP) of Puerto Rico to ensure the goal of who have access to high-quality com- Alliancea is one of eight Broadening broadening participation in computing puting education. But often, there is O N B RAND o n U s p l more pressure to increase the number

a See https://bit.ly/31APN3V b See https://bit.ly/37h074r of students who have access than to Ne by Photo

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ensure the diversity of those students. also has magnified the inequities faced It is easier to increase access to com- by families with limited technology puting education in well resourced access or literacy and limited skills or schools, which tend to be more ho- time to support their students’ online mogenous. Increasing access, partic- learning. In many communities, par- ipation, and experience to students ents or guardians do not see technol- who have been historically under- ogy careers as achievable pathways for c represented in computing requires their children. IO NS V broad-based teams who are commit- Computer science may be an aspi- ted to making change through data- ration, but it is not a priority for many driven strategic efforts.5 school administrators and princi- Why is it difficult to develop and pals.4 School leaders find themselves

maintain goals for BPC in state edu- with a limited understanding of what CAT cation systems? First, such goals are CS is and why all students need to I hard to define. How can progress be learn it. Pressures to address tradi- measured? What data is informing tional, tested curricula, and a lack of the development of goals? How do we resources and teachers to meet the Does Facebook Use know that changes, be they state edu- demand for a new discipline further Sensitive Data for cation policies or classroom practices, compound the challenges. The pres- Advertising Purposes? result in engaging a more diverse set sures placed on schools, school lead- of students in CS? Also some goals, ers, teachers and students by stan- while they seem ambitious, are not dardized testing of reading, writing, Digital Instruments enough to broaden participation. En- mathematics, and science, particular- as Invention Machines suring there is a CS teacher in every ly in schools where large numbers of school is not enough. Many schools are students struggle with such tests, can O MMUN How to Transition highly diverse, but the computer sci- result in lower priority for computer ence classes tend to be mostly White or science curricula. The “time in the C to Microservice Asian and male. If the CS teacher offers day” for traditional subjects can push Architecture one small elective class, most students CS off as an elective. The pandemic still do not have access. Making com- has increased online learning, limit- Security Multiparty puter science classes a requirement is ing hours of interactive learning and Computation not enough. Many states are enacting exacerbating the availability of time a requirement that CS classes be made CS curricula. CS teachers are hard to available in every school, but are not find and retain. Too few university pro- The Ethics of providing funding for teacher profes- grams are training potential computer Zero-Day Exploits sional development nor are intention- science teachers. Professional devel- ally defining what content makes a opment for in-service teachers is lim- The Die is Cast: course a CS course. Schools can often ited. Teachers are often shifted from Hardware Security meet this requirement by simply pro- teaching CS to perceived higher prior- viding access to online classes. Howev- ity subjects such as math or science. is Not Assured er, historically marginalized students The outcome is too often restricted op- face numerous barriers to success in portunities for students who have had The Identity in online courses, so the result is still too historically limited access to learning Everyone’s Pocket few students getting access.3 the computing skills they need to suc- The historic inequities embedded in ceed in any career, much less having Constant Overhead

our social systems make the challenges been encouraged into computer sci- in Next Month Coming in reaching “CS for All” enormous, but ence pathways. Computer science edu-  Fault-Tolerance not insurmountable. COVID-19 and cation must not be seen as yet another the onslaught of virtual educational, burden on schools and teachers. It is SkyCore: Moving Core professional, and community spaces beyond time that we flip the educational to the Edge have brought new awareness to our script and elevate “CS for All” as a prior- dependence on technologies and the ity and see its diversity, equity, and in- computer science that is inherent in clusion goals as an opportunity to equip every aspect of our lives. The pandemic all graduates with the skills they need to succeed in the 21st century. Plus, the latest news about c See “Women, minorities (African Americans/ Several ECEP states are rising to physics and AI, how big data Blacks, Hispanic Americans, American Indi- this challenge by putting broadening is used to understand ans, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, Native epidemics, and the pros Pacific Islanders, and persons from economi- participation in computing goals at and cons of general vs. cally disadvantaged backgrounds), and persons the center of their advocacy and policy specialized supercomputers. with disabilities” from https://bit.ly/2Hl0uzZ efforts. They are creating plans for

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growing CS education and broadening lies on four key actions: identifying a participation at the same time. A pri- member of the Core Team to serve as mary focus for ECEP 2.0 is to support the diversity coordinator; requiring states to develop ways to disaggregate that all state-approved CS content and track data that measure BPC providers meet a rubric for culturally goals. Because computing is a new responsive and accessible curricula subject for many states, it has been and professional development; offer- difficult to define computing educa- ing an online diversity course for all RI tion and even more difficult to mea- CS teachers; and partnering with re- sure the demographics of students search projects to identify the level of engaged in computing. Due to con- engagement of students with disabili- cerns about confidentiality and mask- ties. CS4RI also supports districtwide ing identifiable information when stu- planning workshops for CS educators dent numbers are small, it has been and administrators that include inclu- challenging to disaggregate and report sion and diversity training. on ethnicity, gender, and disability. As Rhode Island’s efforts are showing a collective impact network, ECEP is results. By the end of 2017, the state helping state leaders develop consis- had reached its goal of having CS of- tent, replicable strategies for analyz- fered in every public elementary, mid- ing state data through the lens of BPC. dle, and high school in at least one of Two examples, from Rhode Island and three modes: standalone courses; CS Nevada, where state goals and plans lessons integrated into existing cours- explicitly aim to increase the number es; or access to CS courses during the and diversity of students getting ac- school day from another Rhode Island cess to high-quality CS education, are school. By the end of 2018, 46% of high described here. schools were offering AP computer science, a 26% increase from 2015. Fe- Rhode Island male students in AP courses rose from In 2016, Rhode Island Governor Rai- 5% in 2015 to 30% in 2018. And the mondo launched Computer Science number of female CS major college for Rhode Island (CS4RI)d with the aim graduates in the state rose from 17% to of having computer science taught in 25% over the same period. every public school. CS4RI brought together state government and its Nevada education department, K–12 public Nevada’s Board of Education vice education, universities, industry and president Mark Newburn and the nonprofits. The state provided more STEM Coalition K–12 CS Task Force than $200,000 per year for the past leveraged membership in ECEP to cre- three years to support staff, events, ate a CS coalition that built a cohesive and teacher professional develop- statewide CS education expansion ef- ment. CS4RI’s team selected provid- fort. Over two years, NV leaders con- ers of CS educational content, cur- tributed to the national K–12 CS riculum, and teacher professional Framework and also developed a pro- development that would support RI’s cess for writing CS standards for NV. initiative to bring computer science to The broad-based team framed a strat- all students. One of the guiding prin- egy to broaden participation and built ciples when the state developed CS statewide support for CS education. standards stated: “All students regard- Concurrently, the Nevada legislature less of age, race, ethnicity, gender, identified gaps in K–12 CS education socioeconomic status, special needs, instruction and drafted Senate Bill English proficiency, or any other de- 200. Passed in June 2017, the bill re- mographic will have the opportunity quires all public high schools, char- to participate in computer science. ter schools, and university schools The content and practices of the stan- for gifted students to offer a state-ap- dards will be accessible to all.”e proved CS course by 2022. Notably, Rhode Island’s strategy for broad- the legislationf states: “These schools ening participation in computing re- must also make efforts to increase enrollment of girls, students with d See https://bit.ly/2T5IYT3 e See https://bit.ly/3m3yjof f https://bit.ly/3oQcUkR

3 communications of the acm | December 2020 | vol. 63 | no. 12 viewpoints disabilities, and underrepresented participation and enable all stu- minorities in the field of computer sci- dents to succeed, no matter the tools ence as identified by the state board.” In the movement or delivery mode. Senate Bill 200 also mandates that Ne- toward “CS for All,” As members of ECEP, Rhode Island vada’s half-credit Computer Literacy and Nevada have developed and shared graduation requirement must now in- state K–12 education their approaches to expanding CS edu- clude at least 50% of computer science systems often focus cation in ways that focus on broaden- content, thus guaranteeing all stu- ing participation among students un- dents receive some exposure to com- on access, but derrepresented in computing fields. puter science concepts. too often equity The 22 ECEP states and the territory of After the bill was passed, NV ECEP Puerto Rico are working hard to ensure leaders and state department of edu- and inclusion broadening participation in computing cation staff organized a statewide CS are afterthoughts remains a top priority and that the poli- education summit at which stake- cies and resources target that goal. holders from K–12 and postsecondary in policy and education, government and industry References strategy efforts. 1. Adrion, R. et al. Broadening access to computing learned strategies to support equita- education state by state. Commun. ACM 59, 2 (Feb. ble CS education and wrote strategic 2016), 32–34. 2. Code.org. State Tracking 9 Policies (Public), (Oct. 2020); plans that focused on broadening par- https://bit.ly/3dDUq1H 3. Dynarski, S. Online courses are harming the students ticipation, which were collected and who need the most help. New York Times. (Jan. 19, shared. The state education depart- ments. Nevada’s CS team’s work has 2019); https://nyti.ms/3dFnmpX. 4. Herold, B., and Schwartz, S. Principals warm up to ment also followed up with an online never been about the number of stu- computer science, despite obstacles. Education Week seminar series and training for school dents reached, it has been intentionally 37, 27 (Apr. 18, 2018), 24–25; https://bit.ly/31gakKz 5. Ladner, R. and Israel, M. Broadening participation “for counselors. and systematically focused on offering all” in “computer science for all.” Commun. ACM 59, 9 Nevada allocated $1.4 million in high-quality computing education to (Sept. 2016), 26–28. 6. Nevada Department of Education. Status Report state funding to districts and charter all students and reaching those under- Senate Bill 200 Computer Science Education. (2019); schools for teacher and school leader represented in computing. https://bit.ly/2T7ZIJy professional development, curricu- lum, and equipment. Nevada’s goal to Conclusion: Getting W. Richards (Rick) Adrion ([email protected]) is professor emeritus at the College of Computer and broaden participation was integrated Access to Everyone Information Sciences at the University of Massachusetts into how it distributed state funds. In the movement toward “CS for All,” Amherst, USA, and was UMass ECEP principal investigator 2012–2019. Each applicant had to show how funds state K–12 education systems often Sarah T. Dunton ([email protected]) is Director of would be used to increase the enroll- focus on access, but too often equity the Expanding Computing Education Pathways (ECEP) ment of females, students with dis- and inclusion are afterthoughts in Alliance at the Massachusetts Green High Performance abilities, and underrepresented mi- policy and strategy efforts. Even man- Computing Center, Holyoke, USA. norities. Of the 17 districts in NV, 14 dates to offer CS in every school may Barbara Ericson ([email protected]) is assistant professor of information, School of Information at the applied for funding, and nine charter not mean that students with disabili- University of , USA, and former co-principal schools were funded as well.6 ties are fully included, or that every investigator of ECEP. Nevada’s commitment is showing girl participates, or that students in Renee Fall ([email protected]) is senior research scholar at the National Center for Computer Science Education at dramatic results. From 2016 to 2019, schools that offer online CS courses the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, MN, USA, and the number of students taking com- succeed in those courses. As states former co-principal investigator of UMass ECEP. puter science doubled and the num- enact new policies, we recommend Carol Fletcher ([email protected]) is director of EPIC at The University of Texas at Austin, USA. She is the ber of high schools offering computer the following actions: current principal investigator of the ECEP Alliance. science more than tripled. From 2017 ˲˲ Include people with expertise in Mark Guzdial ([email protected]) is professor of to 2019, Nevada students taking the diversity and inclusion on the team electrical engineering and computer science in the College Advanced Placement Computer Sci- developing policies and plans. Broad- of Engineering at the , USA, and was Georgia Tech ECEP principal investigator 2012–2018. ence Principles exam increased by based teams bring a wide range of per- fivefold. Hispanic students’ represent- spectives that are vital to serving a wide Thanks to ECEP members from Rhode Island (Carol M. ed 40% of all students in 2019 (a more range of students. Giuriceo, Rhode Island College and Victor Fay-Wolfe, ˲˲ University of Rhode Island) and Nevada (Cindi L. Chang, than eight times increase over 2017), Tie resources to goals to broaden Nevada Department of Education, and Mark Newburn, and female students represented 38% participation. Provide funding to all Nevada Board of Education) for their contributions to this of Nevada’s CSP exam-takers, up from districts, not just the well-off schools column. 30% in 2017.g that are poised to take advantage of This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant Nos. Nevada continues to focus on competitive grant funds. Ask districts NSF-CNS-1822011, NSF-CNS-1228355, and broadening participation as it creates to show how new resources will in- NSF-CNS-1228352. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of a state strategic plan, pre-service and crease participation by historically un- the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. Expanding Computing Education in-service professional development derrepresented students. Pathways (ECEP) is part of the National Science Foundation’s for K–12 teachers, and guidance docu- ˲˲ Ensure state-approved CS curricu- Broadening Participation in Computing Alliances (NSF BPC-A). lum and professional development g See https://bit.ly/2T5IKeF incorporates strategies to broaden Copyright held by authors.

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