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1. Out of the Loop
2. Constructing the Pipeline
3. Building Partnerships
1. Out of the Loop
The focus of our research proposal is the computer science pipeline and why so few male and female African American and Latino/a students are
studying computer science at the high school level. Specifically, we will examine the decisions of college-bound African-American and Latino/a
students to take (or not take), persist (or not persist) in computer science courses beyond the introductory level. Our research model
considers the interplay between the high school educational environments and the psychological and cultural factors that affect male and
female college-bound underrepresented minority students’ interests in and experiences learning computer science. The sites of our
investigation are schools within the Los Angeles Unified School District—one of the most diverse in the nation.
Our research is a longitudinal qualitative study based on interviews with approximately 160 African-American and Latino/a high school students
(equally divided by gender) and observations over three years in three public high schools. Interviews will focus on students’ decisions
to enroll in computer science classes, about their experiences in the more advanced classes, about their decisions to persist (or not persist)
in these classes.
Our overall research questions are:
- What are the institutional and structural aspects of high school computer science education that narrow the pipeline for different groups of
underrepresented minority and women students?
- What are the psychosocial and cultural factors linked to studying computer science that could be affecting college-bound underrepresented
minority students’ interest in, motivation, and decisions to study (or not study) computer science?
Our research is cross-institutional, and is based on interdisciplinary perspectives from computer science and the social sciences. An advisory
committee consisting of high school educators, community representatives, and higher education representatives will participate in the research
planning and assessment. The research will be conducted under the auspices of the UCLA Graduate School of Education Outreach Program—a
program devoted to increasing the numbers of underrepresented minorities who are college-bound and admitted to the University of California
campuses.
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2. Constructing the Pipeline
This research project seeks to understand the institutional, contextual constraints and opportunities that affect underrepresented minority
students’ decisions to study (or not study) computer science at the high school level. Our specific focus is how the computer science
pipeline gets constructed. We will study the perceptions and thinking of those who help to construct the pipeline—namely, state,
district, and local educators. In particular, we will focus on 1) educators’ perceptions of what a computer science curriculum
should be for their students; 2) the courses and curriculum sequences that these educators shape; 3) the criteria they use to judge
which students should study computer science and which are not capable of success ; and 4) how these norms and structures that influence
the construction of the pipeline translate into educators’ role in shaping students’ course-taking choices.
We will develop "technological portraits" for three Los Angeles public high schools and conduct in-depth interviews with
approximately forty district-level technology administrators, principals, counselors, computer science and math teachers, and technology and
magnet coordinators at these three schools. Each of these three schools has a high numbers of African-American and Latino/a students.
Our research asks the following questions:
- How do educators at the high school level frame their understanding of the purposes of computer science education?
- How do they judge the capacity and needs of their student body and individual students to learn computer science?
- How does educators’ sense-making of these issues translate into the structures and institutional norms of computer science
learning at the high school level?
- How do these norms and structures widen or narrow the computer science pipeline for underrepresented minority and female high school
students?
Drs. Jane Margolis and Jeannie Oakes, from the UCLA Graduate School of Education, serve as co-PIs on this project. They are leading researchers
on pipeline issues for women and minorities in math and science fields. The research team of graduate students is exceptionally qualified and
ethnically diverse. The team has a strong commitment to research leading to effective intervention and social change. To that end,
dissemination of findings is an important part of this proposal. We will hold on-going discussions with school educators about these issues.
We will produce printed materials for distribution in the three schools, and hold meetings/discussions with the teachers about our research
findings. We will also disseminate our findings nationally.
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3. Building Partnership
For "Building Partnerships", we are creating three teams of teachers, one team for each of our three "Out of the Loop"
research sites. The teams wwill collaborate with us in shaping and refining our research, to increase the chances of our analysis being
one that accurately depicts the nuances, the constraints, the opportunities and challenges involved with computer science education in the
respective schools. These teams are also instrumental in translating our research into practice, collaborating in the dissemination of our
findings and devising effective intervention materials and strategies at the local, district, and national levels.
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