Building Student Retention through Individuated Guided Cohort Training in Computer Science Research-Practitioner Partnership

黑人女性在计算机领域的代表性严重不足，这可以解释为黑人女孩在接受K-12教育系统甚至在接受高等教育之前面临的教育障碍。对学生来说，中学是一个关键的转折点，随着时间的推移，成绩差距和对STEM-CS的兴趣会越来越大。这是一个为期两年的研究-实践伙伴关系（RPP）项目，将使教师、学校领导、指导顾问和研究人员参与其中，确定中学结构、教学和课程改进领域的障碍和未来工作，以促进更多黑人女孩获得对计算机科学的兴趣和经验。该团队的一些核心成员正在为中学黑人女孩开发一个名为BRIGHT-CS的计算机科学学习生态系统，其中包括暑期和学校编程。该项目是BRIGHT-CS项目的延伸，旨在让教师参与RPP，创造一个包容性的环境，以促进黑人女孩在学校对CS的兴趣和学习。虽然核心团队得到了社区学校的隐性支持，但迫切需要教师、指导顾问和学校领导的明确参与，以进一步支持一个包容的环境，让黑人女孩能在学校茁壮成长。该项目的基础是，多样性和包容性问题，特别是扩大计算机科学的参与，必须在教学社区中系统、持续和持续地开展工作。此外，RPP解决了围绕识别和纠正学校障碍的问题，这将促进包容性的学校环境，使所有学生受益，包括其他边缘化学生。通过RPP，该项目将在三所中学建立专业学习社区（plc），包括研究人员、辅导员、教师和学校领导。RPP将支持解决为什么很少有黑人女孩对计算机科学感兴趣并在中学学习计算机科学的初步步骤。RPP不是泛泛而谈，也不是着眼于全国的趋势，而是将特别关注这三所学校和课堂数据，对黑人女孩在学校面临的结构性、教学和课程障碍进行公平审计。结果将是PLC逻辑模型和未来RPP提案的研究议程。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

There is a severe underrepresentation of black women in computing, explained by educational barriers that black girls face in the K-12 education system even before reaching postsecondary education. Middle grades are a critical transition point for students, where achievement gaps and interest in STEM-CS widen over time. This project, a Researcher-Practitioner Partnership (RPP), is a two-year project that will engage teachers, school leaders, guidance counselors, and researchers to identify barriers and future work in the areas of structural, instructional, and curricular improvements in middle schools to promote more black girls to gain interest and experience in computer science. Some of the core members of the team are developing a computer science learning ecosystem for middle school black girls, called BRIGHT-CS, that includes summer and school based programming. This project is an extension of the BRIGHT-CS project to engage teachers in an RPP to create an inclusive environment to promote CS interest and learning among black girls in their schools. While the core team has had implicit support from schools in the community, there is an exigent need to explicitly engage teachers, guidance counselors, and school leaders to further support an inclusive environment where black girls can thrive at school. The project rests on the foundation that issues of diversity and inclusivity, and broadening participation in computer science specifically, must be systematic, persistent, and ongoing work within the teaching community. Further, the RPP addresses issues around identifying and rectifying barriers in the school that will promote an inclusive school environment that will benefit all students including other marginalized students.Through the RPP, the project will establish professional learning communities (PLCs) in three middle schools that includes researchers, guidance counselors, teachers and school leaders. The RPP will support the initial steps in addressing why there are so few black girls interested and pursuing computer science in the middle grades. Rather than speaking in general terms, or looking at national trends, the RPP will look specifically at the three schools and classroom data to conduct an equity audit on the structural, instructional, and curricular barriers that black girls face in their school. The result will be a PLC logic model and a research agenda for future RPP proposals.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.