PEECS-HS

The Partnership for Early Engagement in Computer Science-High School (PEECS-HS) program brings together Washington, DC Public Schools, Howard University Departments of Systems and Computer Science and Curriculum and Instruction, Exploring Computer Science, and Google, Inc. to introduce a new, introductory course titled “Introduction to CS” across DCPS high schools. This course will adopt and extend the Exploring Computer Science curriculum, originally piloted in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).

As with many schools in urban districts, the school targeted by this program is predominately African-American. These students form an important cohort with respect to the U.S. CS workforce. This is a large number of students that exit or never enter the CS pipeline, due to a number of factors, including finding CS boring and not related to them and their interests, and disillusionment and poor performance in science and math. As a result, this is a large population that could fuel workforce, if proper intervention, recruitment, and retention ensured that they completed the pipeline from K-16.

Project Website: N/A

Principal Investigator: Alicia Washington, Howard University