ABSTRACT

The Education Development Center (EDC) and the New York City (NYC) Department of Education (NYCDOE) propose a research-practice partnership (RPP) to enhance and study the implementation of Advanced Placement(R) Computer Science Principles (AP CSP) courses in low-performing NYC high schools. This partnership will build on the prior Beauty and Joy of Computing in New York City project, a partnership in which EDC and the University of California Berkeley created, tested, and refined the Beauty and Joy of Computing (BJC) high school AP CSP course. In that project, NYCDOE partnered with EDC and UCB to recruit and train more than 100 BJC teachers from a demographically representative set of NYC high schools. This new project focuses more intentionally on assisting low-performing NYC schools in implementing and sustaining engaging AP CSP courses.

The project team of New York City public school administrators and classroom teachers will collaborate with researchers, curriculum developers, and professional learning and support specialists with the goal of improving Black and Latino/a student participation, learning, and engagement in computer science (CS). Methodologically, a Design-Based Implementation Research (DBIR) approach will be employed to address three overarching research questions:

1.What organizational conditions, processes, and supports are associated with improved participation by Black and Latino/a students in CS, as measured by the diversity of students enrolling in CS courses?
2. What kinds of project-based instructional strategies, materials, and interventions are associated with improved student learning in UTeach CS Principles among Black and Latino/a students, as measured by student scores on projects according to standard project rubrics and unit and AP exam scores?
3. What kinds of non-cognitive approaches (e.g., teacher messaging, classroom routines, recruitment strategies, etc.) are associated with improved engagement and motivation by Black and Latino/a students in UTeach CS Principles and retention in CS based on enrollment in following CS courses?

This project will advance what is known about effective organizational conditions, as well as instructional interventions to promote participation, engagement, and learning across diverse groups of students, among Black and Latino/a students in particular.

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.

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