The focus of this partnership, also known as “ECS4Alabama”, is to provide access to students to authentic Computer Science (CS) Education exclusively in high schools across the State of Alabama that have majority African American population (by “authentic”, we mean that students learn concepts central to CS such as coding and robotics). The partnership consists of Tuskegee University, the University of Alabama, Auburn University, the Exploring Computer Science (ECS) Professional Development Team, A+ College Ready, the Alabama State Department of Education and dozens of school districts state-wide.

ECS4Alabama is motivated by deep disparities that affect the country’s computing workforce. In particular, talent from the African American community and other historically under-represented groups is not well-represented in CS-related occupation. A major contributing factor to this diversity problem is the lack of uniform availability of rigorous CS curricula at the K-12 level that builds the computing pipeline.

Starting with the Alabama Black Belt region in 2017-2018 school year, and subsequently expanding state-wide, ECS4Alabama has established the ECS course in 92 majority-minority high-schools. ECS was specifically selected as a CS curriculum for partnership schools because of its successful history at other sites in the US to attract students to CS, regardless of backgrounds, because the CS concepts in the course are interwoven with practices that promote inquiry learning that is contextualized as culturally relevant. The project has trained 105 teachers across several cohorts for ECS instruction (one teacher per school, with additional teachers trained at a school following turnovers) through a 14-day rigorous Professional Development, phased over a 12-month period. ECS4Alabama teachers are predominantly female African Americans, thus serving as critically important role models for students from minoritized communities. A survey administered to project teachers (n = 62) reveals that an impressive 88% would like to teach ECS long into the future with another 79% willing to receive training on other CS courses. These findings are notable in the context of promoting long-term sustainability of CS Education in Alabama, in particular in majority-minority High Schools.

The ECS course has gained popularity also amongst students in the state. Since ECS4Alabama’s inception, approximately 6,500 students state-wide have taken ECS in those schools that have teachers trained through the project, the majority of the course-takers being from historically underrepresented communities, including a sizeable proportion of young women of color.  

ECS4Alabama is also preparing teachers from its own ECS teacher community to serve as facilitators at ECS Professional Development events. To-date, six ECS4Alabama teachers have become certified trainers and four additional ECS teachers are gaining readiness for this role. This capacity building effort of ECS4Alabama is designed to promote cost-efficient training by relying on “home-grown” trainers as opposed to those from out-of-state. 

The Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) has been a strong advocate for ECS in the state, recognizing the course as one of the endorsed CS offerings for the State’s High Schools. Moreover, the ALSDE has provided ECS4Alabama with generous financial support to prepare teachers beyond those prepared through NSF funding. Additionally, a 2019 state law mandating that all high schools must offer students with CS experiences through stand-alone courses will effectively sustain ECS in the state for the foreseeable future.    

Assessment of program activities revealed that students who reported being more involved in ECS also reported greater benefits. This was especially true in relation to student engagement in cognitively demanding work and when afforded autonomy to work on CS activities. That is, students who reported having greater autonomy and involvement in developing solutions to solve real problems in class reported more positive outcomes associated with the ECS class. More specifically, they found the class more useful, had more confidence in their 21st Century skills, found the ECS course more relevant, were more motivated to persist in CS, had more confidence in their ability to succeed in CS, were more interested in CS careers and reported greater overall outcomes, especially in relation to creativity, problem solving, critical thinking, and working effectively with other students. In addition, teachers described the ECS curriculum as engaging for their students. Moreover, teachers found ECS activities easy to adapt and to modify relative to their existing content areas.

Last Modified: 12/05/2022
Modified by: Mohammed A Qazi