A Partnership to Implement the Inclusive Computer Science Model of Professional Development and a Digital Platform for PK-6 Computer Science Teaching for Students with Disabilities

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). With an increased focus on computer science education at all grade levels, many instructional leaders are working diligently to determine how to align and integrate computer science standards and content into existing curricula. However, many school districts have not yet systematically prepared teachers to use these curricula or design their own.

Further, computer science curricula are often not designed with the needs of students with disabilities in mind and do not address the particular challenges that students with disabilities may face in learning computer science. Thus, through a Research-Practitioner Partnership with Fairfax County Public Schools, this project will prepare teachers to both implement and design inclusive computer science curricula for all students, including those with high-incidence disabilities.

To do so, the investigators will use the Inclusive Computer Science (ICS) Model of professional development (PD) and a universally-designed tool, created by the researchers, called the Digital Effective Platform for Inclusive Computational Thinking and Computer Science (DEPICT-CS). For the purpose of this project, students with high-incidence disabilities include students with learning disabilities, emotional-behavioral disorders, mild intellectual disabilities, high-functioning autism, or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders.

The following question will guide the work: What conditions are necessary for the ICS Model of PD to be effectively implemented on a district-wide scale to increase and sustain computer science instruction and interest for all students, particularly those with high-incidence disabilities in PK-6 inclusive classrooms? This work will be conducted with approximately 275 teachers who instruct about 6,000 students across approximately 60 schools.

The investigators' professional development model and digital tool, DEPICT-CS, are informed by research on self-regulated learning strategies, teaching self-efficacy, and universal design for learning (UDL). Theoretically and conceptually, the proposed research will contribute to pedagogical strategies and approaches for making computer science accessible and understandable for students with high-incidence disabilities.

Through this three-year mixed-methods study we aim to improve teachers’ self-efficacy and skill related to developing and implementing computer science instruction that is effectively scaffolded for students with high-incidence disabilities. Further, the investigators aim to prepare teachers to use their digital learning platform with embedded self-regulated learning strategies and UDL support (known as DEPICT-CS) and determine how it best addresses the diverse learning needs, computational thinking, and coding skills of students with and without disabilities in inclusive classrooms.

The investigators will also explore how participation in computer science under these conditions enhances elementary grade students’ interest in computer science, especially those with disabilities. Finally, this project will contribute to the sustained integration of CS for students with disabilities by determining what conditions are necessary to effectively implement the ICS Model of professional development on any scale.

The project will collect data via student, teacher and administrator interviews, field notes from observations, teacher and student assessment & survey results, teacher lesson plans, video data, and student work samples across three phases of research. Data will be analyzed after each phase of research and quantitative analysis will be informed by qualitative results.

Data from each phase will also inform understanding of any adjustments that need to be made for subsequent phases. This project is 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.