CS through CE: Broadening Participation and Building Pathways in Computer Science through Concurrent Enrollment

Abstract

The CS-through-CE project studies the promise of Concurrent Enrollment (CE) programs, in which students take CE courses in their high school for college credit, as a vehicle for broadening participation in high school to college pathways in computer science (CS). The Mobile Computer Science Principles (Mobile CSP) project at the College of St. Scholastica, an established curriculum endorsed by the College Board for its alignment with the Advanced Placement (AP) CSP framework, has formed a Research-Practitioner Partnership (RPP) with CE programs at Capital Community College in CT and Southwest Minnesota State University and with partner schools in each state. The RPP explores whether CS through CE can broaden the high school to college pathway in computing disciplines for those traditionally underrepresented in these fields—female, underrepresented minority, and low-SES students. By implementing and studying CS through CE in two contexts (rural and low-SES in Minnesota and urban, diverse, and low-SES in Connecticut), the project contributes to transforming the educational pathways in CS in a variety of contexts and to understanding the supports and barriers to implementing CSP as CE with a broadening-participation goal.