Action to Catalyze Tech: A Paradigm Shift for DEI
In this episode I unpack Catalyze Tech Working Group’s (2021) publication titled “The ACT Report: Action to Catalyze Tech, A Paradigm Shift for DEI,” which provides suggestions for businesses that would like to improve DEI in ways that are relevant to CS organizations and educators.
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Welcome back to another episode of the
csk8 podcast my name is Jared O'Leary
each week of this podcast is either an
interview with a guest or multiple
guests or a solo episode where I unpacks
some scholarship in relation to Computer
Science Education in this week's episode
I'm unpacking the ACT report which
stands for Action to catalyze Tech colon
a paradigm shift for Dei the support was
presented by the catalyze tech working
group and had a variety of different
partners working on it there's no
abstract for this report however here's
the preface this is from page two quote
the research findings here represent
years of work by experts in the field of
diversity equity and inclusion eei and
business and have been extensively
peer-reviewed experts in the working
group met bi-weekly for a year to
aggregate the most relevant
evidence-based approaches that
businesses can take to radically improve
Dei outcomes if Dei is a journey the ACT
report aims to sit where the rubber hits
the road we know how hard it can be the
good news there's no need to reinvent
the wheel instead we build on findings
from dozens of experts and organizations
to create a rigorous framework of action
while this report addresses issues
specific to the tech industry it also
provides a roadmap for businesses of all
kinds similarly although we focus where
many large tech companies are
headquartered the United States our
message is global we recognize that
different companies are at very
different stages in their journey and
one size never fits all we also know Dei
represents an extraordinary opportunity
this report is a call to action during a
transformational moment of business
ethics and leadership in 2020 most tech
CEOs and leaders indeed most businesses
pledge to improve Dei but real change
requires a paradigm shift new found
courage to change systems and mindsets
we invite people across the tech sector
and Beyond to use the tools here to act
boldly and collaboratively on the
defining issues of our day Equity end
quote prior to summarize this report
into a single sentence I'd say that this
report provides suggestions for
businesses that would like to improve
Dei in ways that are relevant to CS
organizations and Educators now this
report is 162 pages long and so I'm
going to try and make this episode as
quick as possible to kind of give you a
taste or a flavor of what this report
has to offer and then encourage you to
read more you can learn more about it so
although this is targeting businesses
and whatnot this is very applicable in
my opinion to CS organizations or
Educators who are interested in
improving Dei or just equity in general
so this report is broken down into some
different sections so the first part is
the introduction then the section one
kind of describes the overall approach
section two which is the bulk of this
particular report is on recommendations
Section 3 is on sustaining change and
then it has an appendix now in the
recommendations it's broken down into
four different main categories so it
uses most as an acronym and so the m
stands for model and incentivize
inclusive leadership the O stands for
operationalized Dei throughout the
business the S stands for share Dei data
metrics and goals and the T stands for
transform Pathways into tech for
underrepresented talent now on page six
of the reports they say that they have
three steps for tech companies or
leaders or in this case for CS
organizations NCS Educators and leaders
within the space these steps are to
develop a strategy for pursuing or
enhancing the four different
recommendations then become a signatory
to this report by pledging to share data
and Report progress annually publicly
and then to support Collective action at
an industry level or in this case as a
field level in CS education and on page
seven the authors suggest that Dei and
business cannot be separated in terms of
like business strategies needs to
incorporate Dei so for cease Educators
one of the things that I've heard many
people and organizations argue is that
the EI and CS education fundamentally
cannot be separated now I've talked
about in some other podcast episodes how
this might be an alignment for
curriculum viewed as social
reconstruction as compared to like
curriculum as standards or curriculum as
social reproduction Etc I'll include a
link in the shout outs to podcasts kind
of unpacks that more but if you're
interested in seeing like who is signed
on to this like if we look at page 8 and
page nine there's a bunch of large
corporations whether it's like Apple or
Google Twitter NAACP Netflix Etc so a
lot of companies have at least agreed to
follow those reports I'm interested to
see even five years from now like what
are the annual ports going to look like
for each of these companies who have
pledged to do this now on page 10 this
report talks a little bit about Dei and
the history of it and why it has failed
so if you're interested in learning more
about that check out page 10. again this
is 162 pages so I'm going to try and
zoom through this on page 11 they talk
about what could tech companies do so in
this case what might CS organizations do
so here's a quick summary of some of the
highlights on there so one is to
actually use recommendations in this
report another is to model and
incentivize inclusive leadership I think
csda has done a really good job with
that with like these CS Equity fellows
and having conferences where the equity
fellows are running it and presenting so
kudos to csda for that another
recommendation is to remove bias from
hiring systems this might be out of the
control of like individual Educators but
it could be something that you can
engage in a conversation with somebody
who might have more of a say on the
hiring does the shared Dei data metrics
and goals now the elementary school that
I was in and then with the elementary
schools we work with at boot up every
kid is participating in computer science
but in schools where participation is
not required by all students it would be
really interesting to look at data
metrics and goals related to who
participates and then sharing that with
other colleagues and maybe even publicly
to learn more about how to improve in
those areas now the recommendation Has
Come Together as an industry or in this
case I'd say to come together as a field
create some new Pathways for CS
Educators and Role Models within the
space and the last recommendation is
they recommend that companies redouble
efforts to provide all children with
Computer Science Education which I'm
sure many of you hear that and go here
here I agree alright so the next section
starting on page 13 is a paradigm shift
so they talk about how we need to change
our mindset around Dei and talks about
the difference between inclusion and
belonging and how there has been
discussion on including people within a
space but it's also really important to
focus on people who feel like they
belong within that space Not Just
included in it so as an example I've
been to social Gatherings with my wife
for like she might know the majority of
people there and I don't know anyone and
while I am included in that space I
don't really feel like I belong because
they're talking about work and stuff
that I have no point of connection or
context for that is a very simplified
example of inclusion and belonging which
is something that we can consider in RCS
classes or organizations okay so if
certain demographics of students sign up
for classes or people sign up for
organizations they might be included but
do they feel like they actually belong
there maybe question mark and then the
next section starting on page 15 they
talk about Cradle to Career so this is
all about creating a systems thinking
approach for Dei so thinking about Dei
from K-12 all the way up through a
career and so the authors argue that
corporations and government and voters
really need to proactively support
education and educational programs which
I agree and for CS education it could
start in preschool like doing unplugged
or scratch junior or something but
here's a quote from page 16 that was
interesting it caught my eye quote if
you want to disrupt the school to prison
Pipeline and transform it into a school
to Tech pathway way we must ensure that
every student has the fundamental Math
and Science backgrounds to study CS end
quote the question that I have with that
is well is that actually what we want is
the purpose of school to get into Tech I
would argue no yes many people will do
that but I don't think we should require
it of everybody unless everybody's in
fact gonna go into Tech and again just
using the devices does not necessitate
needing to understand how to program it
we can't really conflate that but also
how much math and science do we actually
really need to do most CS I'd argue I
use very little science if any and only
sometimes some math above like maybe
some basic addition or subtraction if
I'm like programming the physics of the
video game yeah I'll use like a lot more
math but if I'm just creating a simple
app I don't really use much math so I'm
like I agree with the sentiment on this
but there's more nuances to this
statement that I think need to be
unpacked I think it's problematic when
advocates in any field like I have
experience in CS education and music
education but any field if you are
advocating for something I'd recommend
not speaking in Hyperbole and talking
about how important it is and it's the
most important thing ever and it's going
to be the most important thing ever for
everybody probably not I think it can
kind of set us back when we start making
claims like that because Skeptics or
people like myself will listen to it and
go no you're exaggerating there but
that's just my opinion now one of the
interesting things on page 17 is it has
a case study so it talks about Atlanta
and public schools and these case
studies keep appearing throughout so for
like each one of these sections in the
paper it gives some case studies for
people to kind of learn from and dive
deeper into it and on page 18 they have
a call to action for companies to help
support colleges that prepare teachers
to teach computer science that's
something that has been like a huge gap
and like organizations like boot up
there's a nonprofit that I work for and
that powers this podcast learn more at
boot.pd.org I've kind of filled this Gap
where we have a bunch of Educators out
in the field that don't know computer
science and want to learn it then we
don't have pre-service education
programs really focusing on teaching
Computer Science Education do future
teachers so this report is calling on
companies to help support those
initiatives like we've received support
from like Amazon future engineer then I
know some other universities colleges
have received some report from other
organizations and whatnot all that can
kind of help prepare future and current
CS Educators all right so section one
this starts on page 19. so it talks
about the most framework that they're
using so again most is model and
incentivize inclusive leadership the O
is operationalized Dei throughout the
business the S is share Dei data metrics
and goals and the t is to transform
Pathways into tech for underrepresented
talent they provide 10 important
recommendations again this is on page
personal Dei expertise number two
establish Dei as a business imperative
number three support Dei with funding
metrics strategies and accountability
number four redesign systems including
hiring retention and promotion systems
to remove bias number five apply both
Dei framework and an ethical framework
to the design of products and services
number six support industry-wide Dei
reporting standards and share anonymized
data number seven set public goals
number eight advocate for computer
science CS to be required in all schools
number nine build systems capacity to
create more CS teachers at all levels
and invest in CS faculty within colleges
of Education number 10 invest in
organizations that connect Talent from
underrepresented groups to Tech careers
end quote that gives you a very high
level overview of the recommendations
that they provide in this particular
report again it's 162 pages so I'm going
to go over these very quickly well
hopefully this podcast will help
highlight some sections that will be of
interest to you or the organizations
that you work with now you'll notice a
couple of times in here I've mentioned
systems thinking so on page 22 they talk
more about what does this mean so they
said that this is a chronic problem this
is not a one-off thing it's familiar and
is known in history we've tried to solve
this problem before and it is an
important issue that needs to be
addressed but we can't just address it
through mandates we have to approach
this by trying to fix the system that is
broken now on pages 27 and 28 you notice
that there is a detailed some of the
recommendations so it includes each of
the 10 different actions as well as like
some sub actions for each one of those
so like sub action 9 has like four
suggestions on things that you can do
and I'm going to kind of unpack each of
these very quickly in the following
recommendations so in the first
recommendation number one model and
incentivize inclusive leadership now on
page 32 they provide a little table that
kind of summarizes well what exactly is
inclusive leadership I'm going to read
this off real quick quote visible
commitment inclusive leaders articulate
authentic commitment to diversity
challenge the status quo hold others
accountable and make diversity and
inclusion a personal priority humility
inclusive leaders are modest about
capabilities admit mistakes and create
spaces for others to contribute
awareness a bias inclusive leaders show
awareness of personal blind spots as
well as flaws and systems and work hard
to ensure a meritocracy curiosity about
others inclusive leaders demonstrate an
open mindset and deep curiosity about
others listen without judgment and seek
with empathy to understand those around
them cultural intelligence inclusive
leaders are attentive to others as
cultures and adapt as required effective
collaboration inclusive leaders Empower
others pay attention to diversity of
thinking and psychological safety and
focus on team cohesion and quote so all
of these are really interesting
strategies that can be done not only
with like a leader of a CS organization
but also just like Educators who are CS
leaders so again the six areas are
visible commitment humility awareness
and bias curiosity about others cultural
intelligence and effective collaboration
I think all of those are very applicable
in CS classrooms and they do provide a
citation if you want to learn more about
where this came from I'd actually end up
reading that article maybe turn that
into an unpacking scholarship episode in
the future so stay tuned alright so the
first action to increase your personal
Dei expertise so the first sub action on
page 35 talks about how quote allyship
is not a state it's an ongoing action
make time for the personal reflection
and engagement that sustains allyship
end quote so there are three main ways
that they recommend doing this one is to
audit your personal and professional
national network another is to read
watch and listen and the third one is to
trust and rely on Experts to elevate
your personal learning each of these are
unpacked in a few sentences so if you
want to learn more about it I recommend
taking a look on page 35 and also on the
page there are some essential skills
that they recommend for modeling
allyship and those skills are to quote
develop an intrinsic motivation for
allyship relearn the ways you see the
world take courageous actions speak up
when you spot inequity support
marginalized group members efforts and
do so on their terms and embrace
discomfort as a catalyst for Behavior
change end quote the next sub actions
are to interact personally and on an
ongoing basis with employees from
underrepresented groups and employee
research groups which are ergs the next
sub action is to model growth mindset
and I actually don't think I've done a
podcast episode on growth mindset yet I
know I've mentioned it multiple times so
thinking out loud I should probably
record one because it keeps coming up
but until then if you're interested in
it check out Carol dweck d-w-e-c-k I'll
include a link in the show notes so you
can learn more about growth mindset but
honestly if you just search for it
you'll find a ton of articles logs
research Etc all right the next sub
action for this one is to disrupt
everyday biases that subtly but
repeatedly harm people from
underrepresented groups I also recommend
giving personal signals that you're an
inclusive leader and again for each one
of these sub-actions there are sometimes
a couple of sentences or paragraphs kind
of unpacking okay well how would I give
signals that I'm an inclusive leader
well there's four recommendations in
there on how to do that if you want to
check that out the link in the show
notes at Gerald leary.com will take you
directly to this report alright so
action two is to establish Dei as a
business imperative or in this case we
might say as an organization imperative
or classroom environment imperative Etc
so the first sub action for this on how
to actually do it is to quote include
Dei as a Core Company value and annual
priority ensure each c-suite Leader's
business plan has Dei objectives on
representation culture and wear
applicable product end quote from page
can do that the next sub action is on
elevating the role of the chief
diversity officer to ensure that they
have adequate Authority training and
resources to influence the c-suite I
have six recommendations for that as
well the next sub action they recommend
is to apply the same risk tolerance to
Dei as product Innovation one example
that I heard this is a paraphrasing from
a discussion at the worldwide developers
conference that I went to a few years
ago I forget when that was it was for
Apple so they're talking about how when
you design for the median or the mode or
just like the group average you exclude
the margins but when you design for the
margins you include everybody so when
creating products whether it's a lesson
plan or a curriculum or like a robot
you're selling if Dei is a core
component of your product research can
make it more inclusive insta I in Dei or
even more accessible deia is becoming a
more popular term than just Dei at least
in some of the circles that I've seen
now in each one of these like actions
and whatnot they include some like some
case studies or in this case like here's
some examples of how you can set
representation goals or well what was
affirmative action and how has it had a
positive influence again I'm only like a
quarter of the way through this paper
and I'm on page 45 right now so there's
a lot more to unpack a lot more
resources that they Point toward just
kind of skimming the surface on this one
not really doing a deep dive because
this would end up being a few hour long
podcast a little bit different format
than previous episodes that were
unpacking a specific paper that was
shorter like last week's episode was
like a four page paper but the next sub
action for this particular area is to
devote part of one board meeting and
ideally part of one quarterly earnings
call to Dei challenges and progress so
one way we might be able to reframe that
is to devote one entire PLC and like
quarterly goals or Reflections or even
semesterly like however you end up doing
it in your school to focus on Dei the
challenges progress Etc another sub
action is to prioritize Dei in your
company's spending strategy through
intentional partner vendor and Supplier
Diversity policies that's a really
interesting area that I've only kind of
like skimmed the surface on exploring
there's so many interesting things to
consider with that and at least at the
non-profit level I'm not sure how that
would relate to being in the classroom
like there's like the approved vendors
list and whatnot so you're kind of
limited on who you can reach out to but
it could be at least worth starting a
conversation in your District like well
who is on the approved vendors list and
why who's excluded and why how does that
relate to Dei goals Etc it's a
recommendation two is on
operationalizing Dei throughout the
business or organization in this case
maybe well maybe you're a business I
don't know can't speak for you here's a
really interesting quote from page 50.
uh called the litmus test quote if you
want to know if your Dei strategy has
truly been operationalized at your
company ask any middle manager to tell
you the actions they take on a regular
basis and in the last three months to
implement your company's Dei strategy if
they have no significant actions or
outcomes to report this tells you that
your Dei strategy isn't being
operationalized end quote that's a
really good thing to consider this could
be like ask your principal or ask a
teacher or ask the csma Mentor or ask a
leader in your I don't know local csta
chapter which you can learn more about
in the podcast with Jason Bohr I'll
include a link to that episode it's a
good interview I'm really curious if we
were to ask that it like boot up what
people would say also curious like the
former District that I worked in where I
was the mentor CS educator who'd run
like rpds and whatnot what would they
say the goals were the next action is on
supporting Dei with funding metric
strategies and accountability here's an
important quote from page 52 quote to
measure progress on equity and inclusion
however companies need to track more
than representation without tracking
inputs into critical processes affecting
equity and inclusion such as employee
development and performance evaluation
it is difficult to change culture
company should for example keep track of
patterns in task assignments and role
distribution and analyze formal feedback
to ensure consistency and length and
quality end quote okay so how do we do
that the first sub action is to create
Dei data infrastructure to equip teams
and Leaders with data to make informed
decisions Define strategy and track
progress the next sub action is to set
internal goals and track implementation
of strategic actions they indicate that
best practices require goal setting and
at entry level mid-career and Leadership
levels and the next sub action is to
create incentives for c-suite leaders
managers and others to achieve Dei goals
the following sub-action is to direct a
pay audit for underrepresented groups
starting with gender and race to close
the gaps that'd be really interesting to
look at I wonder Thinking Out Loud here
if there are gender and pay gaps in
teacher salaries and whatnot I ask
because the latter system like there
wasn't really much budging or
negotiating that could be done at least
in the districts that I was in it was
basically how long have you been
teaching and how many degrees do you
have or how many credit hours rather and
that will kind of determine how much you
would make and one of the interesting
things that they note in here is you
need to identify and assess the factors
other than just race and gender that
might actually impact differences in pay
so I'd recommend taking a look at this
section as well as every one of these
sections honestly that stand out to you
because there's some interesting little
tidbits in here but again it's 162 pages
so I don't want to make this like a four
hour episode and by the way if you
notice my voice sounds different the
Timbre or whatever it's because this is
a second day of recording all right so
action number four is redesign systems
including hiring retention and promotion
systems to remove bias here's a quote
from page 58 quote despite inclusive
values held by many people in companies
organizational processes systems and
structures often contain unconscious and
unintentional bias those issues must be
identified and systems should be
redesigned the point is not to fix
people from underrepresented groups by
encouraging them to behave more like
people from majority groups but to fix
the bias system itself startups can
build in best practices introduce
training and create inclusive systems
right from the beginning end quote
alright so how do we do it so one of
these sub-actions is to invest in Middle
managers success train them to be
inclusive leaders then hold them
accountable for meeting Dei goals I'd
argue if you replace like middle
managers with like Mentor teacher or
chapter leader Etc these suggestions
that follow would really help in terms
of having training to kind of recognize
and disrupt the biases that a person
might have now one of the interesting
tidbits that they give is they mention
that if you rely too much on referrals
from current employees or people within
like the leaders Social Circles or
network this can actually reinforce
exclusionary practices so looking Beyond
just who do you know in your networks
because that might result in similar
people similar perspectives which is
good in some ways but it doesn't
challenge the status quo in other ways
the next sub action this is on page 61
is to design recruiting and interview
systems to drive out bias so one way you
can do that is to focus on diversity
over how fast you hire people you could
focus on skills not just on degrees you
could revise the job descriptions you
can adjust the interview questions
develop skills and interviewing you
could build in some different systems
and procedures to kind of check your own
biases and on page 64 there's an
interesting rule called the Mansfield
rule which you want to learn more about
it is talking about how underrepresented
groups should make up 30 percent of a
pool to actually disrupt bias so you
can't just hire one person unless maybe
you're a group of three who's from an
underrepresented group one of the
questions that I have when I was looking
at this is okay but what groups are we
talking about in terms of
underrepresentation and are we looking
at intersectionality Etc but I'll talk
about this a little bit more at the end
when I share some lingering questions
and thoughts all right so the next sub
section or sub action is to design
Talent Development feedback and
promotion systems to minimize bias and
reward inclusion I'm not sure what that
would look like in a school setting I'm
not saying it can't be done I'm just
saying I haven't been on the HR side
it's of schools because it's usually
like a very cut and dry in terms of
here's the PDF that has the pay scale
every year you'll get a little bit of a
boost for every couple years depending
on what district you're in and if you
get more credit hours more degrees you
get another boost you either move down
or you move to the right so if anyone
has some ideas on how schools might do
that that'd be an interesting
conversation to have so feel free to hit
me up on contact me button on my website
jaredelary.com to chat although it's
gonna have to be likely sometime in
December or January as I haven't been
able to do interviews lately because of
all the construction work and whatnot
moving locations all the joys that come
with that all right sub action 4.4 is to
reduce bias in task assignment and work
allocation and introduce a process to
spread stretch assignments Beyond
favorite groups so there's a couple
pages of some interesting content on
here but I want to highlight or read off
rather something from page 72. so this
is NC wit's task assignment toolkit so
it's got four questions and then some
tips so this is from page 72 quote
number one are some team members
assigned more frequently to highly
visible tasks or projects number two are
other talented team members missing out
on these assignments perhaps because
they are quieter or because their
potential has been overlooked number
three are some team members more
frequently assigned to high-risk
projects why or why not examine criteria
used for assigning tasks number four
make explicit your criteria for
assigning tasks for each project and
ensure they are relevant to these
projects for example supervisors
sometimes avoid assigning important
projects to team member who work
flexible hours even if that schedule
should not impair their ability to do
the job top tips watch for patterns
where teamers perform stereotypically
gendered roles research illustrates that
women more frequently take notes or take
on office work EG organizing Logistics
social events Etc avoid or interrupt
comments like women are more social or
men are better problem solvers these
comments reflect a misunderstanding of
gender difference research and
exaggerated findings avoid the glass
Cliff phenomenon of giving projects that
are more likely to fail to employees for
an underrepresented groups end quote so
some interesting things to think of
whether you're a classroom teacher
working in a PLC or working in a CS
organization again lots of interesting
little tips and things to consider in
this report which I hope you consider
reading alright so sub action 4.5 is to
improve sponsorship allyship and
mentorship opportunities and ensure the
opportunities you personally provide are
balanced among different communities so
here's a quote from page 72 that kind of
talks about what's the difference
between mentorship and sponsorship quote
mentors advise while sponsors use your
social capital to actively cultivate
opportunities for sponsories senior
leaders can serve as Role Models open
doors to New Opportunities offer support
during setbacks and provide honest
feedback end quote so that was an
interesting distinction that I hadn't
heard of I guess what I try and do is
sponsor and I hadn't heard of it
referred to that way like whether I'm
collaborating with like a colleague at
work or just in the field or in like the
dissertation that I'm supervising right
now I'm actively trying to find
opportunities for the people that I
collaborate with to help them achieve
the goals that they want or Branch out
into new areas that they might be
hesitant to do like hey I want to
publish but I've never done it before
all right cool let's co-author something
so it's a good point to not just advise
but to also like seek out opportunities
kind of distribute things or lift up
voices Etc and the part about like the
social capital like if you listen to the
interview that I did with Kimberly Scott
we talk about this a little bit more as
well as like the article that I unpack
on Bordeaux applied to CS education your
social capital is extremely valuable
especially if you are a leader in
whatever capacity that may be so the
more that you can lift up people who
have less social capital in that
particular context the better so
leverage it to their advantage be able
to help them out in ways that maybe you
wish you had when you were gaining your
own social capital in whatever context
alright so the next sub action is 4.6
says to use ergs to support employee
development create community and
contribute to business objectives not as
a substitute for a Dei strategy and an
ERG is an employee Resource Group there
are some suggestions on how you might do
that on page 73. the next sub action 4.7
is to evaluate what works and what does
not and iterate accordingly that can be
done with so much whether it was like
after a lesson I'll go back and watch
recordings of the lesson and then go
what worked well what didn't work well
what were the kids doing that I wasn't
paying attention to who spoke the most
who did I talk to the most who spoke the
least who was least engaged why Etc but
then you can also look at this in terms
of projects all right we just finished a
new curricular unit writing it out or
something what worked really well how
can we improve it or even just like
little minor stuff like on the weekend I
was video editing for all the gaming and
drumming stuff because I'm a nerd and
create content and Leisure and for work
and I realized that I could adjust some
of the key mappings in a way that would
save me roughly seven seconds every time
I was bouncing a video and considering I
share seven videos a day on YouTube or
at least have been in the last couple
months that adds up over time especially
because there's the widescreen version
there's The Tick Tock and shorts version
there's Instagram version so each one of
those seven videos has three different
variations of it for different
formatting Dimensions Etc so even though
seven seconds sounds like okay Jared
whoop-dee-doo it really adds up but that
is a very simple example in relation to
technology we can also look at okay well
what is working well in an organization
in terms of how are we communicating or
not communicating what could we improve
and if people are actually open to
sharing their thoughts then you can
actually iterate and improve or not
which stinks now on page 75 and 76 there
are some recommendations for focusing on
disabilities I'll include links in the
podcast to some of the previous episodes
that I did on disabilities in relation
to CS education there's some really
interesting interviews with like my
Israel Jesse wrathgabber as well as some
unpacking scholarship episodes
disability is one of those things where
when we say CS for all it doesn't always
mean people with disabilities so it's
really something we need to consider and
honestly improve which again is one of
the reasons why instead of just going in
Dei some people are referring to it as
deia or accessibility so check out the
show notes for some more information on
that well let's get into action five
which is to apply both a Dei framework
and an ethical framework to the design
of products and services now when you
think of a product or a service that
could be like a curricular unit or a
lesson or a robot that you sell as an
organization or maybe just your own
teaching or facilitating so again this
is like geared towards corporations but
if we think beyond that use this as a
springboard for ideas we can apply this
into classroom context or organizational
context alright so how do we do this so
sub action 5.1 is to develop product
inclusion principles and operationalize
them throughout the product development
process here's a quote from page 79
quote address the user consider race
gender age education level ability
geographic location and other dimensions
of diversity When developing a product
start with Equity inclusion shouldn't be
an afterthought make sure that
underrepresented voices are being heard
throughout the product development
process continually test to ensure
products are inclusive keep researching
and testing end quote alright so here's
an example so there's a grant that I've
been working on for a couple of years
and my main role in this grant was to
create curricular units so then the Wind
River Reservation in Wyoming which has
the northern Arapahoe and Eastern
Shoshone tribes living within the same
shared space as a community when
creating these curricular units they
were supposed to integrate computer
science with new social study standards
in Wyoming then we eventually were like
oh this actually works really well with
Ela standards as well so while doing
that my role was to try and focus on
culturally responsive side of things
make it so that students were able to
express themselves being an outsider
somebody who is white who is not native
and who lives in a completely different
state I wanted to make sure that I was
not trying to impose my my own ways of
being or understanding on the students
in the reservation so the way that we
address the user like this First Column
that is discussed in the 79 is we made
it so that all the lessons are about
students being able to learn about their
own understandings of their culture by
diving deeper through mentorship with
Elders community members and to share
what they have learned or to share their
own understandings and interests on what
they believe to be culture it might
relate to being Northern Arapaho or
Eastern Shoshone or it might relate to
being an artist or a gamer or whatever
the entire design of the curricular unit
focused on Equity making it so that we
explored in the history of the Wind
River Reservation like some of the
problematic things the United States
government did and we focused on
highlighting underrepresented voices
from within the community and outside of
the community and then we just
continually iterated on things so we
constantly got feedback we constantly
were seeking like artwork from students
within the community and incorporating
that into the projects making it so that
peers could remix each other's artwork
with attribution of course and
constantly checking back with is there
any information in these resources that
might be considered culturally sacred if
so we need to remove them so that is one
example of how you might be able to
focus on inclusion principles throughout
a like lesson plan process or curricular
unit development Etc so I kind of did a
little bit of a deeper dive there just
to kind of demonstrate how you might use
some of these ideas in case you're like
okay well I don't create a product I
just teach a class right but let's think
about it in relation to creating a
lesson think of that as your product and
the service is teaching or facilitating
that lesson let's get into the next sub
action it's 5.2 prioritize accessibility
in your products page 82 has some
principles for accessible web content
which talks about making a website
perceivable operable understandable and
robust I'd recommend checking out page
run like a JavaScript HTML CSS course
but sub action 5.3 is to address
potential bias in your artifact
intelligence AI machine learning ml
technology if you are doing any kind of
AI or machine learning I'd recommend
taking a look at page 83 and 84. but 5.4
is to consider how your company can
mitigate harm from the application of
your technology and if you're listening
to that and going okay well I don't
create technology like how's this going
to cause harm just a scratch project
okay let's say you engage in a project
that only represents gender as a binary
or presents a heteronorm in a view
meaning all the relationships in the
scratch project are heterosexual people
or only presents one skin tone Etc all
of these can cause harm in different
ways it may serve as an unintended
hopefully microaggression this is why I
like curriculum development in my
opinion is really difficult you really
got to think through so many little
nuances like that and more and not just
write a lesson you need to think about
how is it going to impact individuals in
different groups different identities
different cultures it's one of the
reasons why I think teachers should be
paid more among many other reasons it's
hard work to consider all of that and
it's one of the reasons why I prefer
project-based learning among many other
reasons Project based learning allows
you to actually customize things rather
than just like okay we're going to
engage in a puzzle-based platform that
students teachers can't adjust whatever
characters in the game are what's in
that game or that platform or whatever
but if it's Project based and it's more
interest driven okay well if there are
biases built into a project we can
encourage kids to remix the project and
make it not so biased Etc alright so 5.5
sub action is to increase representation
and disrupt scenario types in your
original content marketing and
advertising so again kind of building
off of what I mentioned previously if
you think of your advertising your
marketing think of like what is
displayed in your room or on your
website or in the curricular resources
that you're sharing like I did an
unpacking scholarship episode that was
talking about how in order to try and
eliminate some biases some curricular
developers would use objects or
architecture rather than people or
animals to try and disrupt some of the
stereotypes that might be present in
some of the imagery used in your
classroom think about who is displayed
on your wall what kind of identities
cultures ontologies are represented so
on page 87 they have recommendations for
focusing on who is being featured in an
ad who is framing the narrative and the
depth and agency of that character are
they a caricature or is there more
nuances to them so on that last note as
a more recent example my wife introduced
me to someone who knew that I was
non-binary but they had no idea what I
looked like they didn't know my name
they just knew that my wife was married
to somebody who was non-binary and when
the person met me they were like taken
aback by like wait your racist partner
and while they meant no harm by it they
clearly had this like caricature of like
oh well a non-binary person is somebody
with like blue hair and like facial
piercings and yada yada I say that not
as a critique of that person because I
have these like caricatures built up or
stereotypes built up of groups of people
that I don't normally interact with so
we need to make sure that when we are
representing people we are not
representing surface level caricatures
and saying this person represents
everybody who is within the this
particular culture or I identity if you
want to see some of the questions that
they have on page 87 or things to Think
Through I highly recommend checking that
out alright so recommendation three is
to share Dei data metrics and goals so
action number six under this one is to
support industry wide Dei reporting
standards and share anonymized data I'd
argue we could also do this within the
Cs field which paper Center has done and
I did a podcast on like here's the state
of Cs Educators Across the Nation so
I'll include a link to that in the show
notes highly recommend taking a look at
that or listening to that episode but
how do we do this at least in this
report okay so 6.1 sub action is at
minimum commit to collecting tracking
and Publishing intersectional data on
representation hiring and nutrition now
keyword in there is intersectional data
not just here are data on gender within
our classes or in our organization and
then in a different table here are data
on race in our classroom District
organization Etc but looking at okay
yeah that's great what about the the
intersections between race and gender
how does that break down on page 96
there's an interesting histogram at the
bottom that I highly recommend taking a
look at so it shows that men earn more
than women in general but if you look at
the intersections of gender with race or
ethnicity Hispanic men make about thirty
six thousand dollars while Asian men
make about sixty six thousand dollars so
again check out page 96 if you want to
see a very clear example of why
intersectional data is important to take
a look at but sub action 6.2 is to
disaggregate Baseline metrics by
function and level and align on
definitions to ensure Apples to Apples
comparison so this is taking a look at
what is the function or role of
individuals and then what is their level
are they a director are they a manager
are they mid or entry level are they an
intern Etc so I guess in a school
context it might be are they like a
teacher's aide are they a teacher are
they the superintendent are they an
assistant principal are they an HR
Director Etc so look at roles and
functions within an organization or
within your District to see how do we
represent the students that we're
actually working with or do we not and
in what ways sub-action 6.3 is to expand
demographics Beyond equal employment
opportunity commission categories
including intersectional data through
self-id surveys now if you look at page
ethnicity categories that shows much
more expansive than what I've seen on
like recent forms that I've filled out
like medical stuff or whatever so for
example some of the race or ethnicity
categories are African-American or black
East Asian Hispanic or latinx middle
eastern Native American Alaska native
First Nations Pacific Islander South
Asian Southeast Asian white prefer not
to answer and then in this section they
talk about how it's important to make
sure that people have the opportunity to
select multiple categories which is an
excellent point some of the ones that I
filled out did not have that option so
mixed-raced individuals had to select
one all right sub action 6.4 is to
leverage surveys to measure inclusion
and employee sentiment how do people
feel included or going back to something
that I mentioned earlier how to people
feel in terms of their sense of
belonging and then their sentiment about
working at the organization or in the
district 6.5 is to share anonymized Dei
data with an industry body that will
support standardization of Dei data
collection okay so this is really
interesting and I'm glad to see that the
encouraging tech companies to do this
but this would be interesting to look at
for like the K-pop centers report that I
mentioned not too long ago in what ways
might we share data about like CS
Educators with the kpor center if you
get their survey in the future maybe you
set aside some time to fill it out if
you didn't previously or sign up for
their newsletter Etc these are some
different ways that we can kind of model
what is being encouraged by the industry
within the field of Cs education the
more data we have the more we can
actually address some issues but to
argue with myself there it has been
known for a very long time that like 86
percent roughly of like elementary
teachers are white women and that hasn't
really changed too much so once we have
the data and we like report on okay well
there's clearly some demograph traffic
imbalance is going on here maybe we
should take a look at how did I
diversify things in one way we might do
that is with goals speaking of action
number seven is to set public goals
how's that for transition all right so
how do we do it so 7.1 sub action is to
analyze your company's Dei data to
identify discrepancies and gaps again
what I just mentioned it's been well
known that there's the vast majority of
teachers are white women in the
elementary space in particular so sub
action 7.2 is to select meaningful
benchmarks to determine whether goals
are realistic On Any Given metric so now
that we I know that 86 roughly of
teachers Across the Nation are white
women and by Nation I mean United States
my apologies for everyone else and the
rest of the world I know the world does
not revolve around the United States I
just also happen to know most of the
people who listen are from the United
States shout out to everyone who's not
and everyone that is now one of the
interesting things that they mentioned
in this short section is to not only
have external benchmarks but also
internal benchmarks and if you're like
wait what are those take a look at page
ensure goals are challenging to motivate
meaningful progress so I've done a lot
of reviews of goals whether it's for
like multi-million dollar Department of
Education grants like being a grant
reviewer for those as well as like
something a lot less high stakes like
setting goals within like the music
education department in the former
District that is in and oftentimes
whether I'm reviewing a grant or
engaging in those plc's but you hear
goals like okay well we're at a like 64
passing rate on this particular thing
we're going to try and get to 65 by the
end of the year like okay I mean that
might not statistically be a good enough
change to really strive for or is that
really motivating meaningful progress so
behind it set goals yes but make sure
it's not just like I'm gonna get one
point better and I say that as somebody
who is like constantly trying to find
that one percent way to improve things
like I was mentioning saving seven
seconds for each video that I bounce I'm
that kind of person but to say like
we're going going to improve our percent
of underrepresented groups by one
percent or something like that
I don't know about that maybe aim for
something a little bit loftier like 1.5
I'm just kidding that was a joke 7.4 for
the sub action this is ensure that goals
are smart goals which are specific
measurable attainable or achievable
realistic and time-bound and there's a
ton of resources on smart goals just
search for a smart goal and then you can
learn more about it 7.5 is to
incentivize goal attainment so that's an
interesting idea not sure how you would
do that in a district depending on what
your goal is because like when I think
of like a corporate space like an
incentive might be if you meet this goal
we'll give you a bonus right but that
doesn't really happen often in teaching
although we I guess to argue with myself
we do have like the pay for performance
which where I was in the districts
because I saw every kid like k36 in my
first district and then every kid k
through eight like I was either tied to
a specific grade level like depending on
how the fourth graders test that's gonna
determine your performance pay okay
great I guess I'll really be on my a
game with the fourth grade fourth grade
music classes but then others would do
like an aggregate where it was like okay
across the whole School here's what your
performance pay is and that didn't
motivate me at all because quite frankly
I don't care how kids are doing on test
scores I care whether or not they
actually enjoy learning and want to
continue to do that as opposed to if
they like increase their reading scores
by one percent great but do they hate
reading now as a result of it maybe all
right let's get into recommendation four
which is to transform Pathways into tech
for underrepresented talent I would
argue that this section we could think
of how do we transform Pathways into
education or specifically CS education
for underrepresented talent which I
don't like that word talent I did a
Content analysis on the use of the word
over the course of things like five or
six decades and it's so vague like some
people view it as like this innate thing
that you're born with that can't change
fixed and immutable and then other
people look at Talent as not like you
just gotta practice so I don't know I
would avoid that word if I were writing
this but I'm not I'm just talking about
it other people did the hard work I'm
doing the easy part so in this they're
talking about how tech companies should
do certain things but I'm gonna modify
this slightly to say okay well to
diversify the Cs Educators in the
country perhaps we should recruit from
universities that have diverse student
populations and we can do that by
requesting Dei data from these
universities or develop relationships
with different Workforce programs that
help prepare future teachers but I say
this with the understanding that at this
point districts are just happy to get
anyone in the room with teacher
shortages and all that stuff that's been
going on lately so this is like an ideal
but honestly I don't know if we'll if we
have the capacity to really focus on
that right now depends on where you're
at some districts are doing great and
they're able to focus on this others are
not and so they're focusing on just
getting anybody in the room regardless
of their identities or cultures and I
understand that Dei should be a part of
every process I also understand like an
administrator perspective or even a
student and parent perspective where
it's like yeah but there's nobody able
to teach this class let's just find
somebody anybody who can do that
regardless of whether or not they
improve diversity within the district
but that might be a hot take so know
that I mean it with the best intentions
and understand that there are many
nuances here totally on board with the
EI being throughout everything but also
understanding that there are other
things to consider as well not as an
either or but as an and yes we need to
improve diversity and we need to make
sure that somebody's in the classroom
all right so action 8 is to advocate for
computer science to be required in all
schools so for the first sub-action that
they recommend 8.1 is to partner with
the expanding computer education
Pathways esep Alliance to initiate and
support state and district-based policy
reform to improve CS education if you
haven't checked out esep I will include
a link to it in the show notes if you
type in esep computer science I'm sure
you'll find it within the first page of
search results on Alta Vista I'm just
kidding I don't even know if that exists
anymore 8.2 recommends encouraging
increased local state and federal
investment in educational Equity CS
educational policies and well-prepared
teachers wholeheartedly agreed there I'm
assuming the audience does as well if
you're listening to this particular
episode I guess this podcast in general
I'm gonna skim by these 8.3 is a
leverage site selection where business
expansion to drive investment in K-12 CS
funding this I'm very skeptical of I've
co-authored an article that kind of
critiques corporate influence on
education so if you want to get really
nerdy take a look at it it's written
from music educators but I promise
there's a ton of computer science in
there builds off my work and my
dissertation and again it's pretty nerdy
alright so skipping on to action number
nine this is to build systems capacity
to create more CS teachers at all levels
and invest in CS faculty within colleges
of Education this is an interesting one
so boot up the nonprofit that I work for
has focused on in-service Educators
helping prepare people who don't have a
background on CS be able to teach CS but
I see a lot of open job postings for
colleges and universities to be able to
help prepare not only end service like
at The Graduate level but pre-service
Educators to become CS Educators and
this is great I do see that as
potentially making it so boot up does
not need to exist in the way that it
currently does and I say that as like a
good thing like the the goal is to make
it so that boot up is irrelevant at some
point because we've achieved our mission
and at that point maybe pivot to focus
on other things and I see the university
and CS education side of things
happening at the Collegiate level or
pre-service as being a way to help with
that but unlike the field that I've
actually got all my degrees in in music
education the people who become music
educators typically make more than they
would as a performing musician alone the
opposite is the case for CS Educators so
while there might be an overabundance at
times of music educators in different
locations all vying for the same high
school job or whatever or CS education
you could double triple quadruple your
pay by going into industry so I honestly
see this as being as a recurring issue
where people who get degrees win
relation to computer science are going
to look at the field of Computer Science
Education and go I don't know if I want
to deal with all of those issues whether
it's helicopter parents or school
shootings or low pay or whatever so
let's take a look at what the
recommendations are for this so 9.1 is
to create CS education capacity in the
schools that prepare teachers wholly
agree with that 9.2 is to advocate for
and support teacher certification in
colleges of Education I have a very
mixed reaction to certification programs
I've mentioned this before I am not
considered highly qualified as an
elementary educator because I never took
a 100 level course on Phonics doesn't
matter that I have a PhD I've presented
over 100 times have a dozen Publications
receive multiple International teaching
Awards I'm not highly qualified at least
in Arizona I rant about that another
podcast so I'll leave it there and say I
understand but also there's some
problems with the certification system
existing teachers to teach CS here's a
quote from page 117. quote corporations
compare CS professionals with teachers
in the classroom to engage with students
disconnected from Tech career
opportunities fund employees to
volunteer with schools or a half to one
day a week leveraging Corporate social
responsibility CSR efforts employee
resource groups ergs and other corporate
volunteer program resources volunteers
learn to teach and teachers learn CS a
win for everyone see the Microsoft
Technology education and literacy in
schools Telos program for an example of
this in practice end quote so I know
some people who do teals and I know some
people have a background in CS who then
went into education like check out the
interview with Grant Smith or gt Rubble
who's done deals both of them are
awesome interviews and awesome people
but I also know people who have come
from Tech who went into the classroom
and were not really good at it at all so
I'm skeptical of the approach I've seen
it work really well but in general I'd
argue that most CS professionals don't
have any idea of how to teach especially
across the grade span having taught
Evergreen kindergarten through doctoral
student I can say that you really kind
of approach things differently when I'm
supervising dissertation it's very
different than when I'm working with a
kindergartner which is very different
than when I'm working with a teenager
Etc so I say this to say that it's not
just about the content knowledge and I
really wish people who don't have a
background in education kind of
understood that more it's great that you
understand this field that you
understand computer science it doesn't
mean you understand how to teach at
grade appropriate levels even if you
have a passion for it you gotta sit in
and learn the pedagogy you got to sit in
and understand kids Etc but I'll get off
of my soapbox I do want to say I do
value people who want to give back and
want to teach but there's a lot to learn
in order to do it real well it's not
just oh I understand so yes I'll be a
great teacher maybe and sub action 9.4
under this particular action is to work
at an industry level to retain CS
teachers that's going to be hard to do
largely because page 118 mentions that
are not satisfied with their salary and
again in CS you could double triple
quadruple your pay pretty quickly
alright this is vocal Timbre number
three as I continue to record before
contractors arrive action number 10 is
to invest in organizations that connect
talent for an underrepresented groups to
Tech careers so how do we do this this
report suggests for sub-action 10.1 to
increase support for building technical
Talent pools for your Workforce by
promoting systemic reform and funding
students from underrepresented groups at
institutions of higher education now in
the episode with Andre Dowdy that
relatively recently came out Andre
mentioned that some school districts are
doing this so this is definitely
something that we can do even though
it's mentioning like Tech Force school
districts could do this and certainly
like non-profits and for-profit CS
organizations so if you want to learn
more about suggestions for that check
out page 120 and 121 and check out the
interview with Andre it's a really good
conversation for sub action 10.2 this is
to establish relationships with
institutions that graduate negative
American Black and Hispanic latinx
students promote opportunities for paid
internships Sprint internships and
apprenticeships with your company now
that could certainly apply for a
non-profit and for-profit I am curious
what an internship or a Sprint turnship
and apprenticeship would look like in a
school district I know there are
organizations like Teach for America
that can Fast Track being able to get
into the class to teach and then again
with some of the more recent things
going on in politics making it so that
like if you're a veteran in Florida you
can start teaching without a degree or
background in education Etc but I'm
really curious like what it would look
like to have more opportunities for
people to kind of try out teaching
before making a commitment to go and get
a degree so for example I started
drumming in eighth grade then when I was
in high school my private drum
instructor asked me to help teach a
middle school class this was like a
summer program think of it like a camp
and we would introduce middle school
kids into percussion that was my very
first exposure to what it was like being
an educator and it was fun it was
exciting I really enjoyed it and with
that experience I was like oh I can
actually teach this is fun and so then
my senior year I actually started
teaching the Drumline that I was a part
of and then started teaching private
lessons as well I had like 25 students
or so on the weekends and it's
solidified for me that oh this is
something that I really am passionate
about because I was spending all weekend
teaching and then I was teaching
throughout the week in the mornings and
some times in the evenings for like
Drumline rehearsals and whatnot if there
are more opportunities to help people
get into the field get their foot in
before they commit to a degree I think
that could really help out because I
know some people who like hadn't taught
and then they went and got a good degree
in education and then they realized how
difficult it was or it's just different
than what they expected and then they
went into like a career in sales or
something completely different so I
think that could help prevent some of
the Dropout or the turnover rate if we
have more opportunities for people to
teach part-time before they become a
full-time teacher but that's just one
thought sub action 10.3 is the fun
intermediary programs and organizations
to help build Pathways to Tech for
students from underrepresented groups so
I don't know how many school districts
would be able to do this but certainly
some CS organizations might be able to
help fund Pathways for more CS Educators
like hire on and professor at a
pre-service teacher education program
and make it so like the first year the
company pays like 100 of the salary and
then like 90 the next year 80 something
like that that way the university over
time will take take on the full salary
of that person but they can get started
right away with support from a company
and at the end of the section they
actually have from Pages 124 to 126
they've got a bunch of different links
for where you can go to learn more about
potentially doing this so I highly
recommend checking out all the links in
there if you're interested in it but
then we start on page 127 they talk
about Venture capitalists and startups I
don't know if that's necessarily
relevant to the audience of this podcast
but section three on here on page 132 is
on sustaining change and so one of the
ways that they recommend doing that is
to become a signatory for the ACT report
so if you are a tech organization you
can commit to some things that are on
page 135 and then page 136 and Beyond is
the appendix so it's got the
acknowledgments glossary summary of the
toolkits and then some endnotes now at
the end of these episodes where I unpack
some scholarship in relation to Computer
Science Education I like to talk about
some lingering questions or thoughts now
one of the thoughts that I had is I'm
honestly kind of skeptical when I see
reports use phrases like quote school to
Tech pathway end quote by ensuring quote
that every student has a fundamental
Math and Science backgrounds to study CS
end quote from page 16. I'd argue that
not all CS requires a background in math
or science a lot of what I've done with
like game modding and app development
required like no Science Background a
little bit of physics kind of helped or
some things that I was doing which is
where I like okay I could see some math
depending on what you're doing but most
of the programs that I made required
like basic Edition maybe some
subtraction maybe some multiplication so
I'm always skeptical of stuff like that
I totally understand you need to be able
to use like calculus and other things in
CS or at least you can and I totally see
that there are plenty of connections
with science at least there can be but I
don't think it's a requirement and I
also am very skeptical when it's a
school to Tech pathway I don't think
everyone needs to go into Tech Career
just because people are using something
doesn't mean they need to know how it
works like I'm sitting in a comfortable
chair right now I don't need to know how
to build this chair but again I
understand the sentiment it's just when
it's like these hyperbolic statements
where it's like everyone needs to do
this thing it's the most important thing
ever I disagree degree and I think it
can turn people away because people can
easily go ah I don't know about that and
then it kind of diffuses the argument so
another question I have is when we say a
diverse Workforce what does that mean to
you do you think of someone's race
gender sexuality geographic location
socioeconomic status ethnicity languages
spoken disability their age
neurodiversity veteran status education
level immigration status religion
political alignment marital status level
of experience dependency status are they
a dog or cat person Etc what about the
intersections of all these different
identities what does a diverse class
look like in school when the school
itself might not be very diverse
according to the demographic data that
is being collected and then if one
person is the only person who is
teaching a subject in a school like
computer science what can you do to
expand the diversity of adults teaching
that subject that is being represented
within that school far too often I see
diversity statements center around race
gender maybe sexuality but really none
of the other stuff that I mentioned like
why are we not talking about disability
or veteran status when it comes to
Identity and cultures there's so many
more layers like I just listed I don't
know like a dozen things right there but
that's just the tip of the iceberg of
what makes up somebody's culture or
cultures or identity not related to that
there's a tendency when some people
advocate for diversity to be vague in
what's being asked for so how can we as
individuals or as a field clarify goals
to strive toward for example I've heard
some say an organization or a like panel
of speakers isn't very diverse and when
I ask what they mean by that they
usually go with what they can see in a
picture and this becomes problematic for
many aspects in terms of lack of depth
and in terms of misidentifying people so
example labeling myself as male when I'm
very open about being non-binary but
then also it's just it's skimming the
surface on what it means to be a human
and it reduces people to like one or two
categories race and gender when we are
far more complex entities than just two
demographic categories they are two very
important demographic categories but
they are not the only ones so if you had
a panel of all black women speakers you
might look at that and go well that's
not very diverse but then you realize oh
well they're diverse in terms of
sexuality they're diverse in terms of
Veteran status education level their
political alignment number of languages
spoken Etc like there's so many more
nuances that we can look at there than
just oh it's all black women but if we
start looking at all those different
intersections and different layers of
identities it becomes a little bit
harder to talk about it is I will admit
much easier to just focus on one or two
categories rather than a bunch so I
understand why people do it and I
certainly understand why it's important
to talk about race and gender because
there are so many things that are
systemically set up to be advantageous
for some races or genders and
disadvantages for others so those
structural barriers need to be addressed
but they're also structural barriers
with all the other demographic
categories in dimension like think about
being a convict who served your time in
jail how difficult is it for you to get
a job after that I mean if if you're
considered to be 100 reformed you paid
your dues back to society ID by serving
time there are so many barriers for you
after that and it's not often discussed
another question that I have is when is
the purpose of education for getting a
job and when is it not how do we balance
the two across the entire formalized
education grade span like when I worked
with primary kids my goal was to just
show them how fun learning could be and
then with college students it was more
on Career so something to think about
should I consider career development in
kindergarten should I consider it in
depends on the students that you're
working before but this podcast went way
too long I hope you enjoyed this and I
hope you consider taking a look at the
ACT report and you can find a link to
this paper at jaredoleery.com where
there's like 160 some odd podcast
episodes there are a bunch of interviews
with some really amazing people so make
sure you check those out and a bunch
more unpacking scholarship episodes if
you enjoyed this episode I know it was a
little bit different please consider
sharing with a friend or leaving a
review stay tuned next week for another
episode as long as I can record it
before contractors get here thank you so
much for listening I hope you're all
staying safe and are having a wonderful
week
Report
Catalyze Tech Working Group. “The ACT Report: Action to Catalyze Tech, A Paradigm Shift for DEI.” Published by the Aspen Institute and Snap Inc. October 2021. Available online at ACTReport.com
Preface
“The research findings here represent years of work by experts in the field of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and business, and have been extensively peer reviewed. Experts in the Working Group met biweekly for a year to aggregate the most relevant evidence-based approaches that businesses can take to radically improve DEI outcomes. If DEI is a journey, the ACT Report aims to sit where the rubber hits the road. We know how hard it can be. The good news: there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Instead, we build on findings from dozens of experts and organizations to create a rigorous framework of action. While this report addresses issues specific to the tech industry, it also provides a road map for businesses of all kinds. Similarly, although we focus where many large tech companies are headquartered—the United States—our message is global. We recognize that different companies are at very different stages in their journey, and one size never fits all. We also know DEI represents an extraordinary opportunity. This report is a call to action during a transformational moment for business ethics and leadership. In 2020, most tech CEOs and leaders—indeed, most businesses—pledged to improve DEI. But real change requires a paradigm shift—newfound courage to change systems and mindsets. We invite people across the tech sector and beyond to use the tools here to act boldly and collaboratively on the defining issue of our day: equity.”
My One Sentence Summary
This report provides suggestions for businesses that would like to improve DEI in ways that are relevant to CS organizations and educators.
Some Of My Lingering Questions/Thoughts
I’m skeptical when I see reports use phrases like “school-to-tech pathway” by ensuring “that every student has the fundamental math and science background to study CS.” (p. 16)
When we say a diverse workforce, what does that mean to you?
What does a diverse class look like in a school that’s not very diverse?
When one person is the only one teaching a subject in a school, what can you do to expand the diversity of adults teaching CS that are represented within that school?
There is a tendency when some people advocate for diversity to be vague in what’s being asked for, so how can we as individuals or as a field clarify goals to strive toward?
When is the purpose of education for getting a job and when is it not?
How do we balance the two across the entire formalized education grade span?
Resources/Links Relevant to This Episode
Other podcast episodes that were mentioned or are relevant to this episode
Accessibility and Inclusion in CS Education with Maya Israel
In this interview with Maya Israel, we discuss Maya’s shift from special education into CS education, the importance of universal design for learning (UDL) in CS classes, understanding the spectrum of accessibility for students with a diverse set of needs, the current status of accessibility and inclusion within the field of CS education, problematize deficit framings of students with disabilities, and so much more.
Designing Curricula at Scale with GT Wrobel
In this interview with GT Wrobel, we discuss the importance of understanding your “why” behind pedagogical approaches and curriculum design, the internal tensions that arise when designing curriculum used by people around the world, the potential for standards and assessment to be a form of oppression, how feedback impacts the evolution of a curriculum, considerations when designing culturally relevant curricula that is used around the world, aligning curriculum development with professional development, the importance of taking a break to prevent burnout, where we hope the field goes in the next few years, and much more.
Exploring (Dis)Ability and Connecting with the Arts with Jesse Rathgeber
In this interview with Jesse Rathgeber, we discuss what educators should know about (dis)ability culture and research, person-first language vs identity-first language, suggestions for combating ableism through anti-ableist practices, how the arts and CS can come together and learn from each other (great for sharing with arts educators who might be interested in CS), and much more.
How to Get Started with Computer Science Education
In this episode I provide a framework for how districts and educators can get started with computer science education for free.
In this episode I unpack an excerpt from Schubert’s (1986) book titled “Curriculum: Perspective, paradigm, and possibility,” which describes different examples, intents, and criticisms of “images” or “characterizations” of curriculum.
Intersections of Cultural Capital with Kimberly Scott
In this interview with Kimberly Scott, we discuss some of the problems with discourse around grit, students as techno-social change agents, teaching with culturally responsive approaches in communities that are hostile toward culturally responsive pedagogies, unpacking discourse and Discourse, considering both present and future identities when teaching, potential disconnects between theory and practice with intersectional work, comforting the disturbed and disturbing the comforted, and so much more.
Lessons Learned From CSTA Chapters Across the United States with Jason Bohrer
In this interview with Jason Bohrer, we discuss lessons learned coming into computer science education from another subject area, lessons learned working with CSTA chapters across the country (and during a pandemic), how CSTA has impacted the field and continues to evolve over time, how Jason continued to learn about CS without getting burned out, considering equity and inclusion when recruiting for CS education, CSTA’s new CS Teacher Standards, and much more.
Lessons Learned from (In)Formal CS Education with Grant Smith
In this interview with Grant Smith, we discuss the importance of continuing to learn from other educators, what informal and formal learning spaces can learn from each other, how COVID has impacted Grant’s teaching philosophy, our preferences for in-person or virtual professional development and classroom instruction, lessons learned from entrepreneurial adventures in CS education, learning by jumping in and trying new things, heuristic-based learning, and so much more.
Reconceptualizing “Music Making:” Music Technology and Freedom in the Age of Neoliberalism
In this episode I unpack Benedict and O’Leary’s (2019) publication titled “Reconceptualizing “music making:” Music technology and freedom in the age of Neoliberalism,” which explores the use of computer science practices to counter neoliberal influence on education.
In this episode I unpack Kallia and Cutts’ (2021) publication titled “Re-examining inequalities in computer science participation from a Bourdieusian sociological perspective,” which uses Bourdieu’s discussions of capital, habitus, and field to analyze 147 publications on CS interventions.
See, What Had Happened with Andre Daughty
In this interview with Andre Daughty, we discuss how an educator in Andre’s life sparked a passion that led to a career in education, representation in education, thoughts on what’s holding back the field of education, setting boundaries when communicating with people who are being disrespectful, taking care of yourself to prevent burnout, the Mamba mentality, Andre’s intentionality with improving as a public speaker, the importance of play in learning, growing a podcast audience, and so much more.
The Computer Science Teacher Landscape: Results of a Nationwide Teacher Survey
In this episode I unpack Koshy, Martin, Hinton, Scott, Twarek, and Davis’ (2021) publication titled “The Computer Science Teacher Landscape: Results of a Nationwide Teacher Survey,” which provides recommendations for the field based on a summary of findings on teacher demographics, current challenges for CS educators, and the state of cultural relevance in CS education.
Listen to Carol Dweck talk about growth mindset in a TED talk
Find other CS educators and resources by using the #CSK8 hashtag on Twitter