Communications of the ACM
Computer Science's Diversity Gap Starts Early
Computer science educators and activists say exposing all students to computer programming basics early is key to drawing more women and underrepresented minorities into the field.
Credit: Project Lead The Way Inc.
Getting more women and underrepresented minorities into computer science remains a priority for a growing number of nonprofit organizations that have sprung up to introduce more people to the field. In 2011, women made up 47 percent of the workforce, but only 27 percent of those in computer jobs, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Black and Hispanic workers are also scarce in the industry. Blacks accounted for 11 percent of workers overall, but only 7 percent in the computer science industry. Hispanics made up 15 percent of the workforce and only 6 percent of computer jobs. There are new initiatives that seek to change these numbers.
Girl Develop It is one organization at the forefront of these efforts, with plans to close the diversity gap by offering more computer classes to younger students, improving national access to computer coding, and addressing head-on the stigma that's sometimes attached to computer professions. Another organization creating change is Code.org, which is focused on making computer science classes available in all K-12 schools in the United States. At younger ages, kids learn more easily and don't have preconceptions about computer science.
Other efforts include streamlined lectures, more time spent in labs working on real-world problems, and easy-to-use graphic programming languages. There are now five college instructors across the United States retooling introductory computer science courses with National Science Foundation support to draw in a broader range of students. When the pilot period for these NSF-funded classes ends, the plan is to create a new high school Advanced Placement course designed using their curriculum. That could change the makeup of students taking the Advanced Placement computer science exam. In 2013, for example, only 18.5 percent of AP exam-takers were female, 3.7 percent were black, and 8.1 percent Hispanic.
From PBS NewsHour
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