Despite California’s computer science education policies, gender, racial and ethnic disparities persist among the high schools that offer these courses, the students enrolled in them and the faculty who teach them.

However, one trade-off of increased enrollments in computing courses may be that students are taking fewer humanities courses such as the arts and social studies, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign found.

Paul Bruno and Colleen M. Lewis examined the implications of California’s recent state policies promoting computer science education and the proliferation of these courses in the state’s high schools. Bruno is a professor of education policy, organization and leadership, and Lewis is a professor of computer science in the Grainger College of Engineering, both at Illinois.

Using data that schools reported to the California Department of Education from 2003-2019, the researchers explored the effects on student test scores and the curricular trade-offs of student enrollments in computer science courses. That study was published in the journal Educational Administration Quarterly.

In a related project, the couple — who are marital as well as research partners — explored equity and diversity among California’s computer science teachers and their students. That study was published in Policy Futures in Education.

The Google Computer Science Education Research Program supported both projects.

Story Source:
Materials provided by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, News Bureau. Original written by Sharita Forrest. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.