Assessing the Impact of a CSforALL Research-Practice Partnership: The Case of the Chicago Alliance for Equity in Computer Science (CAFECS) (Poster 6)

• In Event: What Is the Value-Add of Research-Practice Partnerships?

Abstract

Objectives or purposes
Education RPPs are a strategy for addressing challenging issues facing schools and districts in the United States. This study details a methodology to assess the impact of an RPP using the five dimensions framework (Henrick, Cobb, Penuel, Jackson, & Clark, 2017) and reports on the impact of a mature CSforAll RPP, The Chicago Alliance for Equity in Computer Science (CAFECS).

2. Perspective(s) or theoretical framework
The CAFECS RPP includes team members from The Learning Partnership, Chicago Public Schools, DePaul University, Loyola University, and University of Illinois Chicago. Henrick, Cobb, Penuel, Jackson, and Clark developed a framework for assessing the effectiveness of RPPs (Henrick, Cobb, Penuel, Jackson, & Clark, 2017), which includes 5 dimensions, or outcomes, RPPs aim to accomplish.

3. Methods, techniques, or modes of inquiry
This study details a qualitative method to document RPP impacts and employs a process/outcome matrix to make qualitative connections between RPP implementation dimensions and program impacts.

4. Data sources, evidence, objects, or materials
Data used in this analysis come from four years of evaluation data, including project documents, meeting observations, interviews with members of the CAFECS RPP team and additional key stakeholders, and the annual formative evaluation reports. Over four years, 78 interviews were conducted both in person and over Zoom.

5. Results and/or substantiated conclusions or warrants for arguments/point of view
Findings indicate that CAFECS increased access to computer science opportunities while maintaining the quality of those opportunities for students. Approximately 5K Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students took the introductory computer science course, Exploring Computer Science (ECS), in 2017, the year before the Chicago Alliance for Equity in Computer Science (CAFECS) Research-Practice Partnership (RPP) formalized the partnership . With the second graduating cohort in 2021, 15K students experienced this course- triple the number.

Research conducted on this project has resulted in key findings related to ECS implementation:
CPS teachers have been able to support all students to achieve equivalent ECS learning outcomes regardless of gender, race, or ethnicity.
CPS students who take ECS first are twice as likely to take a subsequent intermediate or advanced CS course because students introduction to computer science through ECS was personally relevant.
CPS students who take ECS are 3.5 times more likely to pass the AP CSA exam.
The ECS professional development completed by CPS teachers has proven instrumental in increasing student success in the course. Higher participation by teachers in PD correlated with lower failure rates and higher post-test scores
6. Scientific or scholarly significance of the study or work
The RPP effectiveness framework offers general guidance and indicators for progress along 5 dimensions. This study provides a method to use the framework to assess impact by making explicit the connections between the structure of an RPP and the outcomes of the partnership. This study shares findings related to RPP impact for Chicago Public Schools.

Authors

• Erin C. Henrick, Vanderbilt University
  Presenting Author

• Steven McGee, The Learning Partnership
  Presenting Author

• Daniel Schmidt, Partner to Improve
  Non-Presenting Author