Addressing Equity Issues in Elementary Computer Science Education: Knowns, Unknowns, and Implications for Future Work

In 2016, a national coalition of stakeholders released the K-12 computer science (CS) framework. In the time since, there has been an increased push at the local, state, and national level to integrate CS knowledge and skills into K-12 education. Despite this push, significant equity issues exist within the field. While growing research has been done on CS equity issues at the high school level, we know these equity gaps often begin to emerge in elementary school where less is known. Therefore, we conducted a systematic literature review to better understand and explore the elementary CS equity research landscape from 2016 - 2022. We used the CAPE framework (Capacity, Access, Participation, Experience, Fletcher & Warner, 2021) to guide this work and explore what identity groups were (or were not) being supported through research, what levels of the CAPE framework were being addressed, and the specific type of equity-focused interventions that were occurring at the elementary level. We found that a greater research focus is needed in support of multilingual/English language learners and LGBTQIA2S+ students. Additionally, CAPE levels of Access and Participation are under-investigated as are holistic studies that examine all levels of the CAPE framework and CS ecosystem within a site. Of the work being done, capacity-level studies focused on providing professional development and co-designing CS resources, while experience-level studies varied across their implementations. Overall, a significant lack of research exists exploring CS equity issues at the elementary level.