REL Mid-Atlantic is partnering with the Maryland Center for Computing Education and St. Mary’s County Public Schools to study how implementing an introductory computer science course, required for all eighth-grade students, supports students’ computational thinking, mathematics achievement, and interest in advanced computer science coursework. The partnership will build local capacity to design computer science intervention studies that can meet evidence standards under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. This work will help Maryland education leaders generate and use evidence to promote, monitor, and strengthen computer science instruction.
Partnership organizations: Maryland Center for Computer Science Education and St. Mary’s County Public Schools
Current Projects
To increase students’ access to high-quality computer science courses, Maryland passed legislation requiring public high schools to offer at least one high quality computer science course beginning in the 2021/22 school year, encouraged local school systems to incorporate computer science in their middle and elementary schools, and established the Maryland Center for Computing Education (MCCE) to support these efforts.
MCCE seeks to help Maryland school systems increase students’ access to computer science education by offering professional learning to teachers and promoting the adoption of effective computer science interventions, as defined by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Unfortunately, there are few studies of computer science interventions with demonstrated evidence of effectiveness that meets one of the top three ESSA tiers.
Beginning in the 2019/20 school year, SMCPS required all grade 8 students to take a year-long introductory course from Code.org called Computer Science Discoveries.
To build evidence of the course’s effectiveness, MCCE and SMCPS asked REL Mid-Atlantic to help them design a study that could meet ESSA Tier 3 Promising Evidence criteria. Together, we developed research questions, created a logic model that indicates how the intervention may improve computer science teaching and learning outcomes, selected meaningful outcome measures, identified available data sources, and determined an analytic approach. This project produced study design tools that school systems across the country can adapt to strengthen their evidence-building activities.
Beginning in the 2019/20 school year, SMCPS split a double math period into one period of math and one period of computer science. This schedule change enabled all grade 8 students to take a mandatory introductory computer science course developed by Code.org called Computer Science Discoveries. Computer Science Discovery teachers participate in intensive training and ongoing professional learning to build their capacity to teach the course.
MCCE and SMCPS are partnering with REL Mid-Atlantic to investigate whether splitting the double math period negatively impacts mathematics achievement. We are also assessing whether Computer Science Discovery improves students’ computational thinking and programming skills and increases students’ enrollment and performance in secondary computer science coursework. If determined to have a neutral or positive influence on student outcomes, this scheduling approach and adoption of the free curriculum could offer other Maryland school systems an evidence-based and cost-effective way to fit computer science courses into existing school schedules in the future.