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Uneven Computing Preparation in High School: Encouraging Young Women in IT Careers

High school girls lack exposure to computer programming compared to computer literacy. Only 56% of students reported no computer courses or experience, with girls particularly underrepresented. Learn why young women should consider IT careers and how to engage them early on. Discover effective strategies to recruit and retain more female students in computing.

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Uneven Computing Preparation in High School: Encouraging Young Women in IT Careers

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  1. Uneven Computing Preparation in High School Students less exposed to computer programming than to computer literacy 56% of students who reported no computer courses or experience were girls BUT among students with programming experience, the percentage of girls has increased significantly Why Should Young Women Consider a Career in Information Technology? www.ncwit.org/youngwomen

  2. Uneven Computing Preparation in High School

  3. High-school Girls Too Seldom Participate in Advanced Computing

  4. In 2013: Disproportionate Numbers Among CS AP-Takers 56% of 2.2 million U.S. AP exam-takers were female BUT only 19% of those who took a computer science AP exam were female Present a hands-on activity tomiddle-school students using Outreach-in-a-Box www.ncwit.org/outreach

  5. Fewer Girls Doing CS in Science Fairs

  6. Computing Not Drawing Top Math Achievers

  7. First-year Students Not Interested in CS Major

  8. …these factors encourage students to study computing: Research Shows… Early, positive experiences with computing Adult encouragement (especially parental) Positive female role models Information about what computing professionals actually do

  9. Six engaging ways to introduce computing in classwww.ncwit.org/practices Recruit girlswww.ncwit.org/geset More teaching resourceswww.csta.acm.org

  10. Computing Education is Low Profile or Absentin Schools Advanced computing not taught in most schools More computing coursesin schools will introduce more girls (and boys) to computing Rigorous computing teaches students design, logical reasoning, and problem-solving skills

  11. Computing Ed Typically… Is not a graduation requirement Doesn’t count as academic graduation credit Is often classified as a “vocational course” or competes with music, foreign language, or sports electives Is taught by teachers with little tech background or by techies with little teacher training Is hard to integrate across curriculum because of education and testing requirements Tech standards (NETS) exist, but often translate into familiarity with office software.

  12. Moving Beyond Computer Literacy: Why Schools Should Teach Computer Sciencewww.ncwit.org/schools Statistics about computing education and workforce in your areawww.ncwit.org/cseducation • Offer Computing Workshops and Camps: They BenefitBoth Students and the Teachers Who Offer Themwww.ncwit.org/summercamps

  13. Actively recruiting girls and minority students results in more students overall and more female students. One high-school CS teacher recruited 65 students into 2 AP classes and had to turn away students. Targeted Recruiting Works Gender composition went from 12% girls to 33% girls 70% of his students pass the CS AP exam “We have enough students for the first time in four years to run an AP level Computer Science course.”

  14. How Did He Do It? For example: Recruit girls in female-run student clubs Connect computing to girls’ existing interests Tell girls they will stand out as college applicants Embrace newbies as a blank slate • For yearbook: Using Java, they blended and color-matched pictures • For National Honor Society: AP CS students programmed a card scanner to streamline roll-call

  15. You can increase the number of girls in computing through… Evidence-based Recruitment and Retention Strategies Can Help Encouragement Positive early experiences Advocating for a high-school computing requirement

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