BPC-AE: Equity in Computing Education Policies, Pathways, and Practices (ECEP 3)

我们生活在一个越来越依赖技术的世界，在这个世界里，计算机素养和对计算机对个人和社会的影响的理解，对于个人成功、健康和参与的社区，以及我们国家的经济竞争力和安全至关重要。K-12计算机科学教育缺乏多样性，限制了我们国家在课堂和社区中充分利用各种专业知识和创造力的能力。计算教育政策、途径和实践公平（ECEP 3）联盟将解决K-12计算机科学教育和计算途径缺乏多样性的长期问题。作为ECEP支持的结果，各州领导人将理清导致边缘化学生不公平结果的复杂因素网络，询问他们自己的州数据，以确定被排除在计算路径之外的特定学生群体，调查他们州的教育生态系统和政策，以确定获取和参与计算机科学教育的差异的根本原因。促进明确公平的政策改革，以解决扩大计算机参与的系统性障碍。ECEP将帮助我们的国家改变导致K-12学生在计算机科学教育方面存在差异的排斥性制度，从而形成更加多样化的计算机劳动力和具有计算机知识的公民。ECEP团队由德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校、马萨诸塞州格林高性能计算中心、印第安纳大学布卢明顿分校和加州大学欧文分校领导。ECEP建立了国家层面的系统性变革能力，从而为改善被排除在计算机科学教育（CSEd）途径之外的学生的计算机科学教育的公平能力、获取、参与和经验（CAPE）奠定了基础。ECEP的使命以集体影响模型为基础，旨在改变整个K-12教育生态系统中导致不公平结果持续存在的根深蒂固的政策、途径和做法。ECEP有四个主要目标：1)ECEP将成为国家领导人的国家中心，致力于合作增加K-12学生的数量和多样性，以获得计算和计算密集型学位；2)国家领导人将利用ECEP来制定、倡导、实施和分享明确的、国家发起的政策、途径和实践，以促进扩大计算参与（BPC）；3)利用CAPE框架，各州团队将制定目标、共同指标和数据系统，以跟踪实现公平的K-12 cse的进展；4)各州团队将实施战略，以提高学生获得、参与和体验K-12 cse的能力和多样性。为了实现这些目标，ECEP将通过每月虚拟会议、共同赞助为BPC干预和研究项目提供种子资金的州、指导州团队、为创建CS景观报告提供技术援助、州CSEd峰会和其他公平明确的干预措施，帮助各州推进其BPC目标，促进和培育州领导人之间强大的学习社区。ECEP还通过其“扩展包容性教学法”项目以及与计算机科学教师协会的合作，支持面向K-12教师的公平明确的专业发展在全国范围内的传播。ECEP的一个定义特征是公共度量项目，它将产生用于一致度量CAPE结果的工具和协议。ECEP的研究和指导将支持各州领导团队建立BPC目标，评估其BPC计划的有效性，并跟踪其进展。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。

We live in an increasingly technology-dependent world where computational literacy and an understanding of computing’s implications on individuals and society are vital to personal success, healthy and engaged communities, and to our nation’s economic competitiveness and security. The lack of diversity in K-12 computer science education, limits our nation’s ability to leverage the full range of expertise and creativity present in our classrooms and communities. The Equity in Computing Education Policies, Pathways, and Practices (ECEP 3) Alliance will address the persistent problem of the lack of diversity in K-12 computer science education and computing pathways. As a result of ECEP support, state leaders will untangle the complex web of factors that produce inequitable outcomes for marginalized students, interrogate their own state data to identify specific student populations that have been excluded from computing pathways, investigate their state’s educational ecosystems and policies to determine the root causes of disparities in access and participation in computer science education, and promote equity-explicit policy changes to address systemic barriers to broadening participation in computing. ECEP will help our nation to transform the exclusionary systems that lead to disparities in CS education for K-12 students, thus leading to a more diverse computing workforce and computationally literate citizenry. The ECEP team is led by the University of Texas at Austin, the Massachusetts Green high Performance Computing Center, Indiana University Bloomington, and University of California Irvine. ECEP builds state-level capacity for systemic change, thus laying the foundation for improvements in equitable Capacity for, Access to, Participation in and Experiences (CAPE) of computer science education for students who have been excluded from computer science education (CSEd) pathways. ECEP’s mission, grounded in the collective impact model, is to change the deeply ingrained policies, pathways, and practices that perpetuate inequitable outcomes throughout the K-12 CSEd ecosystem. ECEP has four primary goals: 1) ECEP will 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) State leaders will leverage ECEP to develop, advocate for, implement, and share equity-explicit, state-initiated policies, pathways, and practices that promote broadening participation in computing (BPC); 3) Utilizing the CAPE framework, state teams will develop goals, common metrics, and data systems to track progress toward equitable K-12 CSEd; 4) State teams will implement strategies to increase capacity for and diverse student access to, participation in, and experiences of K-12 CSEd. In order to accomplish these goals ECEP will facilitate and nurture a robust learning community among state leaders through monthly virtual meetings, co-sponsorships to states that seed fund BPC interventions and research projects, coaching of state teams, and technical assistance for the creation of CS landscape reports, state CSEd summits, and other equity-explicit interventions that help states to advance their BPC goals. ECEP also supports the national dissemination of equity-explicit professional development for K-12 teachers through its Scaling Inclusive Pedagogy project and its partnership with the Computer Science Teachers Association. A defining feature of ECEP is the Common Metrics Project, which will result in tools and protocols for consistent measurement CAPE outcomes. ECEP’s research and coaching will support state leadership teams as they establish goals for BPC, evaluate the efficacy of their BPC initiatives, and track their progress longitudinally.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.