The rapid growth of CS education in K-12 schools requires a matched set of growth in research to identify evidence-driven practices for effectively delivering computer science education to all students.

Over the next 10 years, CS education has the potential to reach over 55 million curious K-12 learners in the U.S. alone. While the number of learners engaging with CS continues to increase, the identification of promising practices to support and teach learners is growing at a much slower pace. CSEdResearch.org conducts and supports research to define those evidence-based practices that support CS K-12 education for all learners.

We design, conduct, promote, support, and disseminate research that K-12 educators find relevant and actionable. These transformed research practices can then be used to identify and promote high-impact, culturally relevant practices and promote these relevant and promising practices among K-12 educators.

We provide statewide and district level landscape reports using Expanding Computing Education Pathways (ECEP) Alliance well-defined process. Landscape reports are tailored to specific state needs and can include recommendations for continued growth. Reports can answer stakeholders’ and policymakers’ questions across the CAPE framework (Fletcher & Warner, 2020), such as:

  • What is the capacity to provide high-quality computer science equitably to all students?
  • How are culturally responsive techniques implemented in CS courses?
  • Which students have access to CS courses? Are these offerings equitable?
  • Which students participate in CS courses? Do these enrollments reflect the population of the school where they are offered?
  • What are students’ completion rates of CS courses/learning experiences? What are the students’ overall experiences in their CS courses?

Other research and evaluation services we provide:

  • High-quality quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods equity-focused research studies, including longitudinal
  • State and District Level Landscape Reports
  • Evidence-Based Practices (EBP) in CS Professional Development
  • Literature based landscape reports, including synthesis and meta-analysis
  • Project evaluations (small-scale to large-scale projects)
  • Survey instrumentation development, analysis, and distribution

We also provide services related to building the capacity of K-12 CS education researchers to conduct high-quality, equity-focused research.