Does AP CS Principles Broaden Participation in Computing?

Abstract

A major attempt to broaden participation in computer science has centered on the design and development of a new high school Advanced Placement (AP) course, AP Computer Science Principles (CSP). This course was created to intentionally engage a wider and more diverse group of students in learning about computing than those who had historically enrolled in programming-focused AP Computer Science "A" (CSA). After several years in the pilot phase, the course was officially offered by the College Board in 2016-17. This paper uses nationwide Freshman Survey data to examine the demographics and characteristics of students who took either CSA, the new CSP course, or both courses by the time they entered college in Fall 2017. Using crosstabs, z-tests, and one-way ANOVA, this study uncovered the similarities and differences between students who had participated in one or both of these courses. Our findings suggest that while students who took only CSP were more diverse than those who took only CSA, they exhibited less computing confidence and less interest in computing majors and tech careers. This study suggests that while CSP may be recruiting more females and racially diverse students into the course, this course alone may not serve as a direct pipeline into computing majors and careers.

Uses, Revisions, and the Future of Validated Assessments in Computing Education: A Case Study of the FCS1 and SCS1

“…We see this in the distinction between APCSA and APCSP. APCSP attracts more diverse students than APCSA, and APCSP students have different outcomes [54]. Different courses with different learning objectives will likely attract different students and will certainly require different assessments.…”

Can Computing Be Diversified on “Principles” Alone? Exploring the Role of AP Computer Science Courses in Students’ Major and Career Intentions

“…This empirical inquiry builds on prior studies of college students who had participated in one or both APCS courses [26,57,68] to examine associations between taking APCSA, APCSP, or both APCS courses and students' aspirations to pursue majors or careers in computing. The study includes a set of control variables similar to that used in the College Board [68] study (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity, parental education, high school GPA, and standardized test scores), in addition to a wide range of other covariates associated with major and career decision-making.…”

“…Based on Bandura's social cognitive theory [4], SCCT models how an individual's personal characteristics (e.g., race/ethnicity, gender, academic achievement) and their learning experiences might interact with their self-efficacy beliefs, expectations, interests, and goals, to ultimately shape their academic and career aspirations [34][35][36]. The model accounts for a wide variety of student identities and conditions that impact students' career development and has been found to be helpful for framing educational and career development in STEM fields broadly [11,62,67] and in specific fields like computing [33,57] and engineering [27,31]. Additionally, scholars have used SCCT to explore how secondary and postsecondary schools might increase the participation of students historically marginalized in STEM education [21,47,53,65].…”

“…Detailed demographic characteristics of APCS course-takers among the 2017 TFS respondents can be found in our earlier work[57].ACM Transactions onComputing Education, Vol. 22, No.…”

Gender Disparities in AP Computer Science Exams: Analysis of Trends in Participation and top Achievement

“…Several studies associated female underrepresentation in CS with parenting-related factors (Bhanot & Jovanovic, 2009;Ing, 2014;Miller & Kimmel, 2012;Sax et al, 2020;Sonnert, 2009;Wang & Hejazi Moghadam, 2017;Wang et al, 2015). Traditionally, parents have perceived their daughters' and sons' abilities unequally and they also have had biases about guiding their kids to STEM careers (Sonnert, 2009).…”