Does ABET Accreditation Influence the Representation of Women in CS Programs?

Curricular analytics can help researchers in computer science (CS) education understand the structural barriers preventing students from discovering and completing the major, especially those underrepresented in tech. Prior research has found an inverse relationship between curricular complexity and percent of CS graduates who identify as women. This study expands upon previous research by focusing specifically on ABET accredited curriculum with respect to complexity and the representation of women. We created curricular maps for 40 ABET and 40 non-ABET programs. Initial findings show that non-ABET programs, on average, have a higher degree of representation of women (33% compared to 21%). Further, the average complexity score for ABET accredited programs is 219, where as non-ABET programs is 133. This poster discusses the use of curricular analytics, our preliminary findings, and further questions to be addressed as part of this work.