Black students were least likely to enroll in CS overall but most likely to enroll once school-level access to CS is accounted for¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r3 · q3
Currency · newest study 2020 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2025: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Black students' lower CS enrollment was largely explained by lower access to schools offering CS; after accounting for access, Black students were the most likely to enroll in a CS course. → Barrow 2020

Evidence¶

Barrow 2020¶

Barrow, L., Freire, S., & de la Torre, M. (2020). Trends in computer science education: Access, enrollment, and performance in CPS high schools. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED606832

q3 · i? · associational · r3

Analysis of CS enrollment by race/ethnicity with and without adjustment for school-level CS access across CPS high schools. The report also finds Asian students more likely than average to enroll even after adjusting for access.

"Black students were the least likely overall to enroll in a CS course, in part because they were the least likely to attend a school that offered CS. Once we account for differences in access to CS, Black students were the most likely to enroll in a CS course."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Students in the lowest-SES neighborhoods were 3 percentage points less likely to enroll in CS, a gap largely explained by differential access to schools offering CS — related
• Larger CPS high schools were consistently more likely to offer CS courses than smaller schools in both 2012 and 2018 — related
• In schools offering both course types, enrollment differs by race/ethnicity, with more White students in single-discipline courses — related
• Participating districts report large enrollment gaps in CS courses by income and gender — related
• Black students are less likely than white students to attend schools offering computer science classes — related
• Student access to CS grew faster than school access because larger high schools were more likely to offer CS, reaching 92 percent of students by 2018 — related
• Access to computing instruction in US schools is limited and inequitable by school level and poverty — a broader claim this one bears on
• CS course offerings in CPS high schools more than doubled between 2009 and 2018, with 80 percent of schools offering at least one CS course by 2018 — related