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.

• Auto-generated transcript (click to expand)

  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

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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.”

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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.

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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?

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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.

  • Images of Curriculum

    • 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.

  • Re-examining Inequalities in Computer Science Participation from a Bourdieusian Sociological Perspective

    • 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.

  • More episodes related to diversity

  • More episodes related to equity

  • More episodes related to inclusion

  • All other episodes

• Learn more about CSTA’s Equity Fellowship

• Listen to Carol Dweck talk about growth mindset in a TED talk

• Learn more about ECEP

• Find other CS educators and resources by using the #CSK8 hashtag on Twitter

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Free CS Resources I Have Created

Free CS Resources I Have Created

• JavaScript (Khan Academy) resources

• Media arts and technology makerspace resources

• Scratch resources

• Sonic Pi resources

• Swift resources

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