NSF Award
2417664
The University of Texas Austin will extend the Expanding Computing Education Pathways (ECEP) BPC Alliance. ECEP aims to address the state-level systemic barriers that perpetuate the marginalization of students (including but not limited to young women, Black, Hispanic/Latine, and Indigenous students, low-income students, and students with disabilities) in K-12 computing education. In a world increasingly dependent on evolving technologies, diverse representation in computing fields is essential. The explosive growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made clear the social and ethical implications of computing for professionals and laypersons in every facet of society, furthering the importance of diversity in computing fields. ECEP directly supports 30 member states and territories to broaden computing education for historically underrepresented individuals via state-initiated policies, pathways, and practices. Additionally, ECEP resources and coaching are available to any CS education practitioner, researcher or advocate, regardless of ECEP state membership status. Through ECEP’s 5-Stage Model of State Change, ECEP supports state teams in untangling complex factors and root causes leading to inequitable outcomes for historically marginalized students. ECEP’s Common Metrics Project (CMP) serves as a model for helping states build and utilize state-specific data systems to identify underrepresented populations in K-12 CS education, establish goals for improvement, and track longitudinal progress toward equitable capacity for, access to, participation in, and experiences of CS education. Building state capacity to interrogate disparities in K-12 CS education data is a key contribution of the ECEP Alliance to achieving our nation’s BPC goals.<br/><br/>ECEP’s mission is to shift the deeply ingrained policies, pathways, and practices that perpetuate inequitable outcomes through the K-12 CSEd ecosystem. Four primary goals guide ECEPs work: 1) Serve as a national hub for state leaders dedicated to collaboratively increasing the number and diversity of K-12 students in the pipeline to computing and computing-intensive degrees; 2) Build state capacity to implement BPC strategies through resources, equity-focused convenings, and cross-state collaborations; 3) Leverage state data systems to track BPC gaps and outcomes with tools and protocols for consistent measurement; and 4) Catalyze BPC student outcomes through state team coaching and guidance. ECEP leverages the Capacity, Access, Participation, and Experiences (CAPE) Framework (Fletcher & Warner, 2021) and the ECEP 5-Stage Model of State Change to guide both interventions and supports for BPC with states as the unit of change. ECEP serves as a national hub, locus and testbed for BPC through numerous initiatives. As a result of ECEP, state leaders have the capacity to promote equity-explicit policy changes which address systemic barriers to BPC. Through the ECEP Common Metrics Project, states are empowered to interrogate their own state data to identify specific student populations that have been excluded from CSEd, investigate their state’s educational systems and policies to determine the root causes of persistent disparities in access and participation in CSEd, and advocate for equity-explicit policy changes. Using the collective impact model, ECEP provides backbone supports such as state team coaching, research-based toolkits, co-sponsorships, monthly Alliance meetings, national convenings, research, and a comprehensive communication infrastructure. ECEP interventions and resources such as the State Summit Toolkit and Scaling Inclusive Pedagogy (ScIP), build personal, institutional, and state level capacity to organize for systemic change and implement direct educator support for inclusive CS instruction. ECEP Connect, an annual equity-centered virtual convening of CSEd leaders is open to ECEP members and non-members, expanding the reach of ECEP’s resources and knowledge base. The ScIP project has developed a cadre of over 30 trained facilitators who are funded to provide professional development for free to any educator. Collectively, the tools, resources, support, and collaborations provided through ECEP provide a comprehensive framework for state teams establishing systematic interventions for broadening participation in computing education.<br/><br/>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.
