Students earned higher average grades in CS courses than in core courses, with few failing CS¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r3 · q3
Currency · newest study 2020 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Average CS grades exceeded core course grade averages by about 0.2 grade points across cohorts, with similar patterns across gender, race/ethnicity, and neighborhood SES groups. → 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 student grades in CS courses compared to core courses across CPS high school cohorts. The report states that "in 2018, almost 70 percent of the grades earned in CS classes were As or Bs, and only 4 percent were failing grades."

"Across cohorts, average CS grades exceeded students' grade averages in core courses by about 0.2 grade points. These differences in average grades were similar across gender, race/ethnicity, and neighborhood SES groups."

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
• High- and middle-achieving Black students saw core GPA declines at least twice as large as White peers with similar eighth-grade GPAs — related
• Gender differences in assessment points earned remained small but statistically significant after controlling for math course type and level — related
• Ninth-grade GPAs varied substantially by gender, race/ethnicity, neighborhood SES, incoming test scores, course level, and school — related
• Most Chicago freshmen fail at least one course, miss substantial school, or earn below a C average in their first year — related
• Systematic racial, ethnic and gender differences in grades persist among students with the same test scores, attendance, courses and teachers — related