Who Teaches High School Computer Science Courses and Does It Matter?

• In Event: Identifying and Meeting the Needs of the Expanding Computer Science Teaching Force

Abstract

Objectives
As described in the symposium summary, there are concerns that expansions of computer science (CS) education may be outpacing the availability of teachers who are willing and able to teach CS effectively (Sentence & Csizmadia, 2017; Wang et al., 2016). Our purpose is to answer two research questions. First, how qualified are high school CS teachers? Second, how important are CS teachers’ qualifications for students’ outcomes?

Perspectives and Framework
The CAPE framework for equitable and effective CS educational expansions (Participant, yearc) emphasizes that schools’ staff capacity is a prerequisite for ensuring that students’ instructional experiences in CS courses produce the intended benefits. Yet little is known even about who teaches high school CS courses, let alone whether specific teacher characteristics matter.

Data
We use statewide student- and teacher-level longitudinal data from North Carolina spanning the 2005-2006 through 2018-2019 school years, including approximately 130,000 students enrolled in high school CS classes. These include demographic and course enrollment information, and information about students’ end-of-course exams. We can link students to teachers, and teacher-level data include a range of qualifications.

Methods
We descriptively characterize CS teachers in terms of their education, work histories, and so on. We then estimate multiple regression models to predict student outcomes in a subset of CS courses for which there are standardized end-of-course assessments: Advanced Placement (AP) courses. These models allow us to assess the relationship between teachers’ CS-specific qualifications (e.g., subject area endorsements) and students’ AP exam performance after adjusting both for general teacher qualifications (e.g., education level) and observable student characteristics (e.g., race, gender, and prior academic performance).

Results
CS teachers have strong general qualifications. Compared to teachers of other courses, CS teachers are on average more experienced and more likely to have a master’s degree and to be National Board certified. This may be because CS teachers are primarily teachers with other subject area teaching backgrounds who transition into teaching CS. Consequently, only a small minority of CS teachers have prior CS backgrounds whether we consider their majors, subject area endorsements, or prior teaching experience.

These CS-specific qualifications appear to matter. When AP CS teachers have a computer programming endorsement their students are 16 percentage points more likely to take the AP exam and their students who take the exam score 0.9 points higher. Students score 0.6 points higher when their teacher has a CS degree. Other general qualifications (e.g., holding a master’s degree) are not related to AP outcomes. We find suggestive evidence that relevant teacher characteristics vary between the programming-heavy AP CS A course and the more conceptual AP CS Principles course.

Significance
The lack among CS teachers of apparently important CS-specific qualifications suggests that policymakers may want to expand pre-service CS teacher preparation programs. School districts may want to bolster their CS teacher recruitment efforts (e.g., with higher compensation) or offer more intensive in-service support. Individual school leaders may want to reconsider their CS course offerings in cases where staff capacity has not yet caught up to local curricular ambitions.

Authors

• Paul Bruno, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  Presenting Author

• Colleen M Lewis, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  Non-Presenting Author