Although it is well known that Black women are underrepresented in computing, less is known about their pre-college experiences. We hypothesize that inequities at the K-12 level result in Black women's underrepresentation in computing, because Black women have accumulated less social capital and are less embedded in courses and organizations related to computing prior to college. This paper reports the initial findings from the first round of a survey designed to gather the pre-college computing experiences of Black women and their peers. Black women in our sample were less likely to report participating in formal computer science (CS) education in school, slightly more likely to report participation in outside-of-school computing programs, about equally as likely to pursue computing experiences independently, and more likely to have had no pre-college computing experiences at all. We found that Black women were less likely to report that they were told they would be a good computer scientist, especially by friends, teachers, and guidance counselors, thus reflecting weaker social connections and lower levels of social capital. These findings suggest that organizational embeddedness or social ties from pre-college computing experiences may indeed be a factor in Black women's underrepresentation in computing and that access to these experiences outside of the formal classroom may be particularly important. The survey is one part of a study that will feature a second round of data collection in another state, analysis of state-level longitudinal data, and interviews with Black women.

Many K-12 educators who are new to computer science (CS) may have a lack of confidence or sense of intimidation when starting their CS teaching journey. To mitigate this, Massachusetts DESE contracted CSforMA to create a three-day "Introduction to Computer Science for Educators" workshop (ICSW) focused on CS fundamentals. The ICSW covered grade-level CS terminology and concepts including computational thinking, physical computing, and programming. Evaluation of the ICSW showed 98% of respondents reported increased knowledge of CS. In a survey administered later that summer, 100% of respondents who took the ICSW reported that it helped them better understand curriculum materials. This replicable, scalable, and successful ICSW model could benefit other State DoEs and CS professional development coordinators. This work also shows the benefits of using an external evaluator.

Many university computing and engineering departments rely on transfer student enrollment from community colleges, but these students often face unique barriers to academic and social integration. These challenges can be compounded for students from underrepresented racial backgrounds. Using institutional and survey data, correlations among social and academic factors were calculated to measure the impact of a Post Transfer Pathways program on GPA and persistence. While findings indicate that participation has significant positive impacts, URM students may be more vulnerable to disruptions in social and academic factors than non-URM students.

While the population of girls in Texas grade 6-12 computer science courses has increased, gender parity remains elusive. This work explores the root cause of this phenomenon as understood by Texas teachers who are part of an NSF supported networked improvement community (NIC) focused on gender disparities. Using teacher-defined problem statements about the root cause of gender disparities, we uncovered 15 subcodes across six main attributions for the underrepresentation of female students. Teachers overwhelmingly described student-related issues, such as awareness and lack of role models, as the primary driver of gender disparities. We found that teachers' attributions of the root cause of gender disparities varied based on teacher gender and teacher experience.