Preparing Teachers for Culturally Responsive Pedagogy in Computer Science (CRPinCS): Building a Micro-credential via Collaboration

Schools in underserved communities are less likely to be able to offer computer science (CS) classes and when available the teacher lacks a background in CS but is also new to the teaching profession (Banilower et al., 2018). CS teachers without the proper preparation in the content area struggle to support their students including ways of adapting lessons for their diverse students. To mitigate these potential harms, a collaborative effort of four organizations and five teachers resulted in the development of a micro-credential focusing on culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) for CS. This project, CRinCS, aimed to create a meaningful and inclusive learning experience for CS teachers in New Mexico Public Schools. The Design-Based Implementation Research (DBIR) project was a Research Practitioner Partnership (RPP) funded by NSF to develop a micro-credential in CRP. This work met the needs of educators in New Mexico where the teaching force does not mirror the demographics of the student population. Specifically, 60% of NM teachers are white, 34% are Hispanic, and only 3% are Native American, while 61% of NM students are Hispanic, 25% are white, and 11% are Native American, therefore students are less likely to share their background and experiences with most teachers. A potential remedy to bridge this gap is for teachers to utilize CRP. Through the CRinCS micro-credential, participating educators were given the resources and time to adapt aspects of their CS curriculum to be more reflective of the backgrounds of their students. Overall, 52 participants, all in-service educators with more than 2 years of teaching experience, successfully completed the 35 hours needed for the micro-credential with an average increase from a pre- to post-survey related to culturally relevant practices of 11% points out of 100 per indicator. And, participants submitted lesson plans presenting their new awareness of CRP and engaged in discussions showing the depth of their new knowledge of CRP.