Ten Lessons for Computer Science for All

U S President Barack Obama’s agenda of Computer Science for All [26] brings an incredible opportunity for broadening participation in computing. Yet, along with this opportunity come risks and possible unintended consequences. As the authors of Stuck in the Shallow End: Education, Race, and Computing [17], we have spent almost two decades working with schools to increase our understanding of the pervasive inequities in computing for historically unrepresented students. In response to our initial research findings, we developed and implemented the national Exploring Computer Science (ECS) course for high schools across the country [8]. ECS consists of a year-long curriculum, on-going professional development and mentoring for teachers, and policy support to democratize computing for all students. Below are ten lessons we have learned about CS for All from our collective years as researchers, teacher educators, curriculum developers, policy advocates, and agents for social change.