An Analysis of High School Computer Science Education (HSCSE)
Chris Chan | Chris Estreich | Andrew Parker | Avichal Garg
overview statistics factors solutions interviews international findings
Overview An introduction and high-level summary of our analysis.
Statistics A collection of telling statistics pertaining to the current state of HSCSE.
Factors The identification of 4 principal factors that affect the breadth and quality of HSCSE.
Solutions An synthesis of several proposed solutions that address the 4 contributing factors we identified.
Interviews A revelation of the real-world conceptions of HSCSE through the eyes of 2 ACM SIGCSE leaders/3 high school teachers.
International A juxtaposition of the status quo of our domestic programs with the established programs of several other countries.
Findings Summary of findings, and an expression of each of our personal feelings on the matter.

Contributing Factors

We have identified four fundamental variables or factors that have shaped to the current state of HSCE, and consequently are those factors that need to be targeted if we seek to affect the quality and reach of computing-related education. Here we briefly touch on the characteristics of each of these factors/variables.

Economic-Based Factors

ï Schools have limited funding;
ï Teachers are underpaid;
ï Qualified persons are difficult to find;
ï The resources required to train teachers are inaccessible to most schools;

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Institutional-Based Factors

ï There are a lack of resources available for teachers;
ï There are no state certification programs;
ï There is a lack of teacher support from administrators;
ï There is a great deal of inertia in school districts and curricula that fights change;

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Curricular-Based Factors

ï There are no imposed national standards;
ï Pseudo-standards such as the AP are poorly designed;
ï The focus is often on content and not engaging high school students;

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Societal-Based Factors

ï CS is seen as a topic for computer geeks;
ï CS is often seen as an elective in high school;
ï There is a confusion between CS, IT, and applications proficiency;
ï Parents/Administrators/Teachers have misconceptions about the utility of CS, often thinking that there are no longer any jobs in computing;

To demonstrate just how wrong parents are (with respect to the last bullet point) consider the following quotation from Business 2.0 Magazine (read the original article here):

        For American service workers to hang on to their jobs, they will have to make similar changes. Barry P. Bosworth, a senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution, points out that the fastest-growing service fields are the engineering and management of computerized sales and supply systems. To shine in those careers, he says, workers have to master at least four skills: computer literacy, typing, an understanding of how complex organizations work, and the ability to deal with people (either in person or electronically). Yet despite the fact that services account for 80 percent of private-sector employment, how many high schools require courses in typing, computer science, operations research, and interpersonal relations? Talk about productivity: If critics want to be truly effective at keeping jobs at home, they should stop scolding businesses and start crusading for better education reform.

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How These Factors Relate: The Feedback Loop

        Economic, Institutional, and Curricular factors cannot exist without relying on each other for support. For example, shortcomings in curriculum can be attributed to the lack of curricular development directly, but also to the lack of economic resources available to do so and the lack of institutional support to compel such development. The societal factors that exist, exist interestingly outside the Economic, Institutional, and Curricular factors. That is to say, societal factors influence the Economic, Institutional, and Curricular factors directly, and vice versa. The various stigmas and misconceptions surrounding computer science seem to have grown out of the fact that there are economic, institutional, and curricular shortcomings; appropriately, one of the primary reasons we have economic, institutional, and curricular shortcomings is that the societal misconceptions continue to fuel poor funding, poor institutional structures, and poorly designed curricula. In this way, a vicious cycle has deeply embedded itself in the American educational system between societal factors and economic/institutional/curricular factors.

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