Parent Voice in a Computer Science Education Initiative

• In Event: Who Has a "Seat at the Table"? Equity in Decision Making About Computer Science Education

Abstract

In the rush to achieve computer science (CS) for all, families have not been at the table. Most parents want to be involved in their children’s education (Silander et al., 2018), but schools struggle to engage families, particularly those with lower income and whose first language is not English (Hill & Torres, 2010). There is little research on family engagement in CSed, but the lack of inclusion of parent voices may be particularly detrimental for Latinx students (Denner et al., 2017).

Building on critical race theory (Yosso, 2005), we focus on family engagement in terms of their community cultural wealth--their knowledge, skills, and contacts. This includes raising up parents’ perspectives (Caspe & Lopez, 2018) and helping parents identify and overcome barriers to participation (Kekelis & Sammet, 2018). Efforts to engage parents are most successful when they take into account the needs, experiences and expertise of families, and build on and support existing advocacy efforts that center family and cultural norms, rather than undermine them.

In this poster, we will describe our efforts to bring families, especially families from low income and Spanish-speaking households, to the table in school-based CSed efforts. These efforts include defining the problem by collecting a range of data, designing and implementing strategies to spark parent interest and build skills, and changing institutional systems to increase parent voice.

Defining the Problem

Findings from over 600 parent surveys show that while the majority want their children to learn CS at school, only 13% say it is being taught. Parent views are not unified: some want less ‘screen time’ at school, and others want more. Parents of daughters are less likely to say that all children should learn CS, and Latinx parents rate the importance of teaching CS higher than White families. Since many do not know what is happening in the classroom with technology or computer science, the first step to parent voice is providing information.

Designing and Testing Strategies

We are testing how in-person and virtual events and classes create spaces for the voices and leadership of Spanish-speaking parents. Spanish Family Code Night is a one-hour evening event that we held at four schools over the last two years. Lessons learned include having teams of parents and staff drive the planning, recruitment, and implementation of the event, and having a facilitator that knows the school community and culture and can make connections to CS. We have also held evening classes that combine technology and English language education and create spaces for skill development and community-building.

Changing Institutional Systems

Interviews with school staff that work directly with Spanish-speaking families identify both challenges and opportunities for future family engagement efforts in the face of COVID-19 impacts. These include the need for personalized outreach to assess and address families’ needs related to school communication and technology, leveraging the school-community coordinator structure that is already in the schools, and creating consistency across schools in priorities, strategies and systems for tracking and responding to family disengagement.

Authors

• Jill Denner, Education, Training, and Research Associates

• Rose K. Pozos, Stanford University

• Mary Anne Robb, Santa Cruz City Schools