Engaging School Counselors, Creating Computing Allies (Abstract Only)

When counselors become advocates for computing they can have significant impact in recruiting youth in the field through their administration of course assignments and engagement in career exploration with students. A recent study of counselors' academic backgrounds, work priorities, and current perspectives and practices regarding advising in computing has implications for educators and others interested in building cooperative relationships with counselors. The study took place as an activity of the Counselors for Computing (C4C) program. C4C leverages the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT)'s organizational membership, applies evidence-based approaches for professional development, and monitors and adjusts practices to make inroads into CS education through school counselor engagement. In an effort to tailor existing professional development for counselors to the realities of their complex roles in schools, C4C asked 80 counselors to describe their background academic experiences, the schools in which they work and the ways they spend their time at work. In addition, study participants were asked to describe their current counseling practices regarding computing, the extent to which computing was taught in their schools and their preferred methods of receiving professional learning. Understanding the ways in which school counselors interact with youth, parents, administrators, teacher colleagues and other stakeholders may assist K12 computing educators in their efforts to collaborate with counselors in a shared effort to recruit and retain youth in their courses. In this poster presentation the authors will a) frame the problem of counselor readiness to guide toward computing, b) describe the current experiences of school counselors with regard to computing education and career guidance, c) detail how counselors' current work assignments and backgrounds can inform professional learning and relationships in support of pathways to computing careers, and d) show sample messaging and resources computer science educators can use to inform counselors and other school professionals about opportunities for youth in computing.