Project Profile

There is a need to broaden participation and engagement in computer science, particularly for students who are underrepresented including girls, students who are Black or Latinx, students with disabilities, low-income students, English language learners, and students living in rural communities. As schools, districts, and researchers work toward this goal, they need tools to measure how new approaches to teaching and learning computer science are supporting the success of all students. The goal of this project is to develop tools that would gather information about teachers’ and students’ experiences in computer science learning. The project has a particular focus on approaches to teaching that address systemic and structural barriers in computer science and empower students by engaging them in learning that is relevant to their experiences and identities.

This project will create and validate instruments to measure culturally responsive-sustaining education for computer science in middle and high school classrooms. Culturally responsive and sustaining educational experiences should affirm students’ multiple identities, empower students as users and creators of technology, and support their learning, growth, and achievement in computer science. The instruments to be developed include a teacher survey, a student survey, and a classroom observation tool. They will be designed in collaboration with a community-based working group of teachers, students, and parents and guided by an advisory board of experts in culturally responsive pedagogy and education research. The project will build on previously designed instruments to create tools specific to computer science education, which will then be tested through expert review, cognitive interviews, and a pilot in a small number of classrooms. Based on those findings, the instruments will be refined and field-tested to explore whether the implementation of culturally responsive-sustaining education is associated with improved student outcomes in computer science.

This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers. This project is also funded through the CS for All: Research and RPPs program.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.