Accelerating Women's Success and Mastery in CS (AWSM in CS)

德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校提出了一个项目——AWSM in CS（加速女性在计算机科学方面的成功和掌握，发音为“Awesome in CS”）——该项目开发了一个网络改进社区（NIC），以提高女性在高中计算机科学（CS）课程中的招聘、保留和成功程度。随着全民计算机科学运动在全国范围内的发展，人们对K-12计算机科学教育的重要性达成了越来越多的共识，这导致许多学生获得了更多的机会。在德克萨斯州，K-12 CS课程的学生总数在过去五年中大幅增加（增加了124%），有色人种学生（增加了154%）和低收入家庭学生（增加了156%）的参与人数也大幅增加。然而，女性入学人数却没有出现类似的增长（增长了104%）。CS中的AWSM旨在改变这种状况。CS中的AWSM研究人员和实践者将参与根本原因分析，通过招聘、教学、学校/社区文化/政策等背景来检查女性代表性不足的主要驱动因素。然后，它将实施和测试一种全面的、基于研究的方法，通过三年的PDSA（计划-执行-研究-行动）周期来解决女性代表性不足的问题，以迭代干预措施以建立其有效性。NIC从业者将通过虚拟和面对面的专业发展和网络建设经验得到支持。结果包括女性注册和完成CS课程，大学先修课程（AP）考试和表现，以及随后的CS课程注册将被衡量。将定性地研究NIC在满足教师和学生需求方面的作用。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。

The University of Texas Austin proposes a project -- AWSM in CS (Accelerating Women's Success and Mastery in Computer Science, pronounced "Awesome in CS") -- that develops a Networked Improvement Community (NIC) to improve the recruitment, retention and success of females in high school computer science (CS) courses. There is a growing consensus on the importance of K-12 CS education as the CSforAll movement gains traction across the country, and this has resulted in increased access for many students. In Texas, overall student enrollment in K-12 CS has increased substantially over the past five years (124% increase), as has the participation for students of color (154% increase) and for low-income students (156% increase). Similar gains, however, have not been seen for female enrollment (104% increase). AWSM in CS aims to change that. AWSM in CS researchers and practitioners will engage in a root cause analysis to examine the primary drivers for the underrepresentation of women through the context of recruitment, instruction, and school/community culture/policy. It will then implement and test a holistic, research-based approach to tackling female underrepresentation with three years of PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act) cycles to iterate on interventions to build their effectiveness. NIC practitioners will be supported through virtual and in-person professional development and network building experiences. Outcomes including female enrollment and completion of CS courses, Advanced Placement (AP) test taking and performance, and subsequent CS course enrollment will be measured. The role of the NIC in addressing teacher and student needs will be researched qualitatively.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.