Expanding Girl Power by Design: Continuing to Broaden Participation in Information and Communication Technology Pathways

Incorporating students’ cultural identities into computer science teaching has been shown to support student learning and address issues of power, race, and gender. This is particularly impactful for students who are underrepresented in computing to imagine, or reimagine, their futures. This partnership between California State University, Sacramento (Sacramento State) and the Elk Grove Unified School District (EGUSD) will build upon their prior work in creating a high school computing pathway that is more inclusive for African American and Latina girls.

The team will continue preparing teachers in the school district through a culturally responsive professional development program and aims to increase the number of girls enrolled in the district’s Information and Communication Technology courses by 51%. This project will also create a holistic network of support for the girls participating in the program that engages families, community organizations, and industry partners.

The project’s focus on engaging and retaining high school girls in computing courses will identify best practices that can help inform school districts on how to remove systemic and historical barriers in computing pathways and classes.

This research-practitioner partnership between California State University, Sacramento (Sacramento State) and the Elk Grove Unified School District (EGUSD) will build upon prior work to improve the representation of high school girls in computer science (CS). The project team aims to increase the number of girls enrolled in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Pathways in EGUSD by 51%, from 155 to 300, by focusing on recruiting and retaining African Americans and Latina girls into the ICT pathway.

The project team will also scale a culturally responsive computing PD program for teachers and engage parents and guardians as a holistic support network. The team’s use of linguistically responsive recruitment will deepen knowledge about how to broaden the participation of high school girls in CS by building on their cultural and linguistic assets.

The project will also generate substantial evidence on the impact of teachers' professional development and the use of culturally responsive computing in increasing equity in CS for girls.

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.