LPFI/OUSD CS Working Group
Computer Science Access in California
- 65% of California’s public high schools offer NO computer science courses.
- Fewer than 13% of California’s public high schools offer AP Computer Science.
- Without access to advanced placement computer science courses, students are eight times less likely to pursue computer science in higher education.
- Secondary Education:
- African-American and Latino students represent 59% of the California high school population, but just 11% of the 2014 AP CS testtakers.
- In California, (the state with the highest numbers of projected computing jobs), only 121 African-American students and 610 Latino students took the AP Computer Science exam in 2014.
- Post-secondary Education:
- African Americans and Latinos combined earn just 17% of all Computer Science Bachelor’s degrees and just 7% of all Computer Science Ph.D.’s.
- Workforce:
- African Americans and Latinos combined comprise just 9% of the entire computing workforce and make up just 6% of Computer Science faculty.
LPFI/OUSD Survey Results
In 2013, LPFI and Oakland Unified School District co-created the LPFI/OUSD Working Group, tasked with making recommendations for strengthening CS education in the district.
In August of 2014, the working group administered an OUSD Computer Science assets & challenges survey and compiled from responses from the Working Group and 18 district stakeholders.
Survey results revealed:
- Staff & Administration:
- No one has holistic CS programmatic coordination within their job description
- Challenges with recruiting CS teachers
- Students:
- Lack of access to CS courses, especially for under-represented students of color
- Curricular:
- Lacking overall CS curricular vision (course sequence and standards)
- Tech:
- Issues with distribution of laptops in the classroom; problems with students lacking access to computers in their homes
Addressing Critical Challenges
TEALS as Partial Solution
- Members of the Working Group helped pilot the TEALS program in the 2014-2015 school year
- TEALS Goal: rigorous computer science in every high school, taught by a teacher at the school
- Model:
- 2 courses: Intro CS and AP CS A
- pair teams of industry volunteers with classroom teacher
- gradual release of course content to teacher over 2 years (teacher lends classroom expertise)
- 2 year commitment to teacher/volunteers commit to 1 year – involves planning, teaching, supporting students 1:1, grading, collaborating as part of a team
- Started in 2009 in Seattle serving 1 school with 1 volunteer
- in 2014-15, currently serving 140 schools in 21 states
- partnered with 119 teachers
- Expansion in OUSD:
- 2014-2015
- Castlemont HS – Claire Shorall
- Community Day School – Jason Gray
- 2015 – 2016
- Castlemont HS
- Community Day School
- Fremont HS
- Skyline HS
How can you get involved?
- LPFI (lpfi.org)
- Support our SMASH programs, hackathons
- Volunteer as a speaker or host a tech event
- TEALS (tealsk12.org)
- Volunteer for classroom program
- OUSD (ousd.k12.ca.us/Page/452)
- If Oakland resident, write to your school board member to support CS (including endorsing Rosie’s policy) and attend school board meetings