IMPACT

Empowering at least 20,000 Chicago teens with the foundational practices of computer science.

Through its research and development, CAFÉCS has demonstrated a positive impact that courses like ECS have on students’ interest in the field, as well as their choices about future computer science coursework.

CAFÉCS enabled the rapid spread and implementation of the ECS course through the Taste of Computing grant from 2011-2016. Research showed that students found the course personally relevant and the course increased the likelihood that students would pursue additional CS coursework in high school. This early success gave the CPS School Board  confidence in enacting the graduation requirement. CPS had a model that would support the growth from 40% to 100% of the high schools offering ECS within a few years, and they did. This groundbreaking achievement is a significant milestone for CPS and all of the computer science teachers in Chicago as they continue to see remarkable student performances across all races, ethnicities and genders.

IMPLEMENTATION
  • Roughly 15,000 students graduate each year completing one year of computer science. Almost 80,000 students have taken ECS in the last decade.
  • Roughly 275 teachers are teaching ECS each school year
  • There is an increasing number of CPS students taking intermediate and advanced computer science courses because their introduction to computer science through ECS was personally relevant.
  • The ECS professional development program provided a foundation for the success of the graduation requirement.

Student population participation in ECS Curriculum & Professional Development Program:

%

Students who identify as women

%

African-American

%

Hispanic

Chicago Public Schools Enrollment in Exploring Computer Science

2013

Per Year

2014

Cumulative

Per Year

2015

Cumulative

Per Year

2016

Cumulative

Per Year

2017

Cumulative

Per Year

2018

Cumulative

Per Year

2019

Cumulative

Per Year

2020

Cumulative

Per Year

2021

Cumulative

Per Year

Based on 90,000 ECS Students

RESEARCH – contributions to the field

Learn more about our publications by clicking here.

CAFÉCS research has shown that full completion of the ECS professional development program correlates with higher student learning outcomes. This finding is being used as a rationale for proposing Illinois Legislation to allow district workshops to count as endorsement for specific courses.
In an effort to ensure all students fulfill the graduation requirement, CAFÉCS has collaborated with the ECS developers and EDC to develop a hybrid version of ECS (some in-person but mostly remote) for credit recovery for students who failed ECS. CPS saw a pass rate of 98% for students seeking credit recovery through the specialized version of the course for credit recovery.
As a complement to the ECS professional development program, CAFÉCS has supported the development of and research on an instructional coaching model. Teachers who have participated in the coaching program have significantly increased their confidence in implementing ECS.
CAFÉCS research has shown that when students feel that ECS is personally meaningful, students achieve higher outcomes and are more likely to pursue additional computer science. The Exploring Connections program is supporting teachers to help students find meaningful connections between their personal lives and the content of the ECS course – making informed adaptations to course materials.
During the COVID-related remote teaching, CAFÉCS supported adaptations to the ECS coaching and professional development models to mentor CPS teachers to adapt in the new online environment and teach ECS remotely – without diminishing any of the course’s fundamentals. Through highly collaborative and interactive strategies, CPS teachers mitigated the impact of COVID-19 in students’ success as well as participated in ongoing remote professional development. Moreover, the ECS instructional coaching model has been enhanced with online group coaching models that encourage teachers to share their expertise with their peers and foster the growth of the ECS teacher community.
FUNDING
​​CAFÉCS has successfully collaborated in the development of grants to provide CPS with continuous support for professional development, educational research and other efforts to ensure that all schools offer a high-quality CS course to all CPS students.

To date, CAFÉCS has collectively secured 12 grants for

$8,868,176

View All Grants Awarded

Impact

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Publications

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Videos

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