This article illustrates the potential for hackathons to serve as an innovative educational tool in addressing the underrepresentation of minority communities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Using Merced, California--a region recognised for its agricultural economy, socioeconomic disparities, and diverse…

With the increasing demand for K-12 computer science education (CSed), and the importance of preparing highly qualified preservice teachers who have basic CS knowledge, teacher education faculty play an essential role in CSed capacity building. However, little is known about the best ways for supporting teacher education faculty with the…

There are currently too few computer science faculty to meet student demand, and faculty from historically minoritized groups are severely underrepresented. Expanding pathways from community colleges to PhDs is one critical avenue to both grow and diversify the computer science professoriate that has been underexplored. To gain insight into these…

Background and context: High school students' interest in computing fields is not always sustained in community college due to a disconnect between institutions. Objective: To understand how cross-sector collaborations can align institutional pathways in computing. Research questions: What cross-sector practices can be used to build a computing…

Purpose: Supporting community college transfer students represents a critical strategy for broadening participation in STEM. In addition to being a racially diverse group, students who pursue STEM degrees by way of community college report frequent interests in graduate study and academic careers. Thus, supporting and expanding transfer students'…

Research demonstrates a connection between parent perspectives and children's decisions to pursue careers in STEM (e.g. Albritton et al., 2020; Fouad et al., 2016). However, there is limited research on parents' impact on CS education advocacy. Through one-on-one parent interviews, this study found that parents engage in educational advocacy, but…

This dissertation presents the results and outcomes of an effort to design educational tools and curriculum to improve student learning in introductory programming courses. The work was conducted at the University of California, Merced (UC Merced), situated in the Central Valley of California, and home to a diverse student population. The findings…

Young people need digital competency and confidence to effectively harness computing power to solve problems and design solutions; a core component is improving young people's computational thinking. Unfortunately, access to computer science education is lacking for all youth, and in particular for youth who live in lower-income households, who…

The purpose of this report is to provide findings from the Abt Global independent evaluation of the PreK-12 STEM Pathway program. The Community Training and Assistance Center (CTAC), a nonprofit organization focused on supporting educational innovation and community change, received an Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Early Phase grant from…

Background and Context: Differences in children's and adolescents' initial attitudes about computing and other STEM fields may form during middle school and shape decisions leading to career entry. Early emerging differences in career interest may propagate a lack of diversity in computer science and programming fields. Objective: Though middle…

Despite a growing national focus on computer science (CS) education, students with disabilities are often excluded from or not able to access high quality CS experiences and coursework. One reason for this is a lack of teachers who support students with disabilities and also hold CS knowledge and skills. Integrating CS into preservice teacher…

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Computer Science and STEM-related fields were among the most resistant to online courses. This is because of a perception of the need for more hands-on instruction with labs, clinicals, field studies, etc. Additionally, many STEM students had perceptions based on limited experience of an online STEM course.…

As Artificial Intelligence within education becomes increasingly important, Digital Promise reviewed the guidance documents released by seven states--California, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Virginia, Washington state, and West Virginia--on how to approach artificial intelligence (AI) in education. Throughout this report the authors summarize the…

Culturally responsive computing (CRC), that centers sociopolitical issues and transformational uses of technology, has been described as valuable for increasing engagement with computing, especially for historically underrepresented minoritized students. But what do high school students think? Through a sociocultural lens prioritizing student…

In 2019, California State University (CSU), Chico was awarded a five-year Teaching Quality Partnership (TQP) grant to implement the Computational Literacy Across Secondary Settings (CLASS) program. The goal of this program was to recruit, prepare, and retain highly qualified individuals into the teaching profession, with a focus on high-need rural…