Carolina is one of six females taking the Computer Programming course at East River High School, a predominantly Latino/a high school located in a low-income neighborhood on the east side of Los Angeles. She is one of the top students in her Honors Geometry class and has a strong history of academic achievement, particularly in mathematics and science. Carolina was recruited, along with other similarly strong female mathematics students, by a well-meaning and committed mathematics teacher, who had been assigned to teach Programming and was eager to increase female enrollment in what had been a predominantly male classroom. As the course evolved, the teacher, who was teaching himself programming while running the course, decided to take advantage of the more knowledgeable students by pairing "experts" with "novices." With two exceptions, these pairs included an older, more tech-savvy male-the "big brother"-and a younger, inexperienced female. Despite the girls' high standing in high level mathematics classes, the students quickly fell into "traditional" roles, with girls taking on more "secretarial" tasks. Carolina, who found this arrangement to be frustrating, states: We [the girls] called them "big brothers"….I would type and he [partner] would like think about it-we would both think about it but he would like be the one with the most ideas…I was not always able to understand the ideas. Sometimes I just went along with it.

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This article will detail efforts to broaden participation in computing in urban schools through a comprehensive reform effort of curricular development, teacher professional development, and policy changes. Beginning with an account of the curricular development of Exploring Computer Science, we will describe the inquiry-based research that underlies these learning materials. Next, we argue that accompanying professional development that supports the curriculum is essential for supporting this inquiry-based approach to computer science instruction. We then explain the policy strategies used to designate this course as a college-preparatory elective and place it in 17 Los Angeles high schools. Finally, we share the initial results of how students experience this course and ongoing challenges encountered when working in the public school system. The article concludes with a discussion of how longitudinal reform effort requires a strong foundation and deep roots to successfully democratize computer science education.