Skip to Main Content

RTI uses cookies to offer you the best experience online. By clicking “accept” on this website, you opt in and you agree to the use of cookies. If you would like to know more about how RTI uses cookies and how to manage them please view our Privacy Policy here. You can “opt out” or change your mind by visiting: http://optout.aboutads.info/. Click “accept” to agree.

Accept
RTI International
  • About
    • Office Locations
    • Executive Leadership
    • Corporate Governance
    • Partner with Us
      • U.S. Government
      • Clients and Funding Agencies
      • Industry and Commercial Clients
      • Foundations and Associations
      • Bilateral Agencies and Multilateral Banks
      • Universities and Academic Research Institutions
      • Suppliers and Small Businesses
    • Commitment to Quality
      • RTI's Client Listening Program
    • Ethics and Human Research Protection
    • Living Our Mission
    • Open Science Initiative
    • Veteran Opportunities at RTI

    About

  • Practice Areas
    • Health
      • Public Health and Well-Being
      • Health Care Transformation
      • Behavioral Health
      • Health Behavior Change
      • Precision Medicine
      • RTI Health Solutions (RTI-HS)
      • Health Equity
      • Community & Workplace Health
      • Public Health Economics
      • Child and Adolescent Research and Evaluation Program
      • RTI Health Advance
    • Transformative Research Unit for Equity​
      • Equity Capacity Building Hub
      • Social and Economic Justice Research Collaborative
      • Narrative Research and Community Engagement Lab
    • Education and Workforce Development
      • Early Childhood
      • K-12 Education
      • Postsecondary Education
      • Career and Adult Education and Workforce Development
      • Education Policy, Systems, and Governance
      • Education Research Methodologies
      • Education Technologies
      • International Education
    • International Development
      • Climate Change
      • Energy for Development
      • Environment
      • Global Food Security, Agriculture, and Nutrition
      • Global Health
      • International Education
      • Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, Learning, and Adapting (MERLA)
      • Youth and Economic Opportunity
      • Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH)
      • RTI Center for Global Noncommunicable Diseases
      • RTI Center for Governance
      • RTI Center for Thriving Children
    • Climate Change
      • Clean Energy Technology and Renewables
      • Climate Finance
      • Climate Justice and Equity
      • Climate Planning, Preparedness and Resilience
      • Climate Policy
      • Climate Vulnerability, Adaptation, and Mitigation
      • Economic Impacts of Climate Change
    • Water
      • Food-Energy-Water Nexus
      • Water Quality
      • WASH (Water, Sanitation, Hygiene)
      • Water Resources Management
    • Energy Research
      • Carbon Capture and Utilization
      • Biomass Conversion
      • Natural Gas
      • Energy Efficiency
      • Industrial Water
      • Syngas Processing
    • Environmental Sciences
      • Air Quality
      • RTI Center for Water Resources
      • Urban Sustainability
      • Toxics
      • Building Resiliency in the FEW Nexus
      • Climate Change Sciences and Analysis
      • Environmental Policy
      • Environmental Justice
      • Sustainable Materials & Waste Management Solutions
    • Justice Research and Policy
      • RTI Center for Community Safety and Crime Prevention
      • RTI Center for Policing Research and Investigative Science
      • Child Well-Being and Family Strengthening
      • RTI Center for Forensic Sciences
      • Evidence-Based Strategies to Reduce Firearm Violence
    • Food Security and Agriculture
      • Food Security and Food Assistance
      • Nutrition, Physical Activity, & Obesity
      • Food Safety
      • Food Systems and Policy Analysis
      • Food Loss and Waste Research
      • Market Systems Strengthening
      • Global Food Security, Agriculture, and Nutrition
      • Climate-Smart Agriculture
      • Agricultural Innovation
    • Innovation Ecosystems
      • Innovation Advising
      • Innovation for Economic Growth
      • Innovation for Emerging and Developing Economies
      • Innovation for Organizations
      • Research, Technology, and Innovation Policy
      • Technology Acceleration
    • Military Support
      • Military Behavioral Health
      • Military Health and Human Performance
      • Military Sexual Assault, Harassment, and Domestic Violence Prevention
      • Wearable Sensor Technologies
      • Military Health System Transformation
      • North Carolina Center for Optimizing Military Performance

    Practice Areas

  • Services + Capabilities
    • Surveys and Data Collection
      • Survey Design
      • Instrument Development
      • Survey Methodologies
      • Data Collection
      • Establishment Surveys
      • Health Registries
      • Data Analysis and Reporting
      • Research Operations Center
    • Statistics and Data Science
      • Survey Statistics
      • Environmental Statistics
      • Coordinating Centers for Multisite Studies
      • Analysis and Design of Complex Data
      • Biostatistics
      • RTI Center for Data Science
    • Evaluation, Assessment and Analysis
      • Evaluation Design and Execution
      • Advanced Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods
      • Evaluation, Monitoring, and Assessment
      • Economic Analysis
      • Evaluating Communication Interventions and Campaigns
      • Evidence Synthesis for Policy and Practice
      • Risk Assessment and Prediction
    • Program Design and Implementation
      • Systems Strengthening and Scaling
      • Capacity Assessment and Building
      • Policy Reform Support
      • Curriculum and Teacher Professional Development
      • Interventions and Prevention Programs
      • Implementation Science
    • Digital Solutions for Social Impact
      • Human-Centered Design of Digital Solutions
      • Digital Product Development
      • Digital Communication Campaigns
      • Digital Data Analytics
    • Research Technologies
      • Survey Technologies
      • Data Management and Decision Support Systems
      • Geospatial Science, Technology, and Visualization
      • ICT for Limited-Resource Settings
      • Mobile Applications
      • Web Applications
      • Bioinformatics
      • Interactive Computing
    • Drug Discovery and Development
      • Medicinal Chemistry
      • Molecular Design and Cheminformatics
      • Behavioral Pharmacology
      • Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics (DMPK)
      • In Vitro Pharmacology, Bioassay Development, and High-Throughput Screening (HTS)
      • Isotope Labeling
      • Regulatory Consulting and Support for Medical Products
    • Analytical Laboratory Sciences
      • Bioanalytical and Toxicology Research
      • Forensic Sciences
      • Physicochemical Characterizations
      • Metabolomics
      • Proficiency Testing and Reference Materials
      • Microbiology
      • Analytical Chemistry and Pharmaceutics
    • Engineering & Technology R&D
      • Biomedical Technologies
      • Decarbonization Sciences
      • Environmental Exposure & Protection
      • Materials & Environment
      • Sustainable Energy Solutions

    Services + Capabilities

  • Impact
    • Newsroom
    • Insights Blog
    • Events
    • Publications
    • RTI Press
      • About the RTI Press
      • Instructions for Authors
      • RTI Press Collections
    • Projects
    • Global Reach
      • Asia
      • Eastern Europe and Central Asia
      • RTI International India
      • Africa
      • Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
      • Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)

    Impact

  • Experts
    • Our Experts
    • In-Depth With Our Experts
    • Related News
    • Experts In the Media
    • RTI Fellow Program

    Experts

  • Emerging Issues
    • COVID-19 Research
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Global Health Security
    • Cannabis Research
    • Opioid Research
      • Interventions for Opioid Use Disorders
      • Preventing Opioid Misuse and Overdose
      • Treating Opioid Use Disorders
    • Policing Research and Investigative Science
    • Drone Research and Application
    • E-cigarette Research
    • Zika Virus Research
    • Integrated Governance

    Emerging Issues

  • Global Reach
  • Insights Blog
  • Newsroom
  • RTI Press
  • Publications
  • Partner With Us
  • Careers
  • Facebook IconTwitter IconInstagram IconYouTube IconLinkedin Icon
Impact

Computer Science for All K-12 Students

  • Home
  • Impact
  • Computer Science for All K-12 Students

Funding collaborative work to bring computer science to all students

Game-changing scientific discoveries are often the product of relentless collaboration. The Game-Changing Research Incentive Program (GRIP) at North Carolina State University (NCSU) asks local university personnel and RTI researchers to propose ways to stimulate the growth of interdisciplinary research. GRIP provides large-scale seed funding for collaborative research efforts.

The GRIP program, a joint effort by the NCSU Office of Research, Innovation & Economic Development, RTI, and the Kenan Institute for Energy, Technology, and Science, allocates funding over three years to advance visionary research ideas. The program committee comprised of faculty and administrators from NCSU, the University of North Carolina, and RTI received 59 pre-proposals from more than 300 faculty members within ten NCSU schools and colleges.They awarded funding to four projects, three of which included RTI researchers and NCSU faculty as principal investigators.

Preparing Students for a Technology-Driven Workforce with Greater Access to Computers

According to former President Obama’s Computer Science for All (CS4ALL) initiative, in 2016 there were 500,000 open tech jobs in the U.S., and that number is expected to double by 2020. These jobs typically pay 50 percent more than an average private-sector job.

Given the prevalence of smart phones, gaming stations, and even AI devices, it may be surprising to know the U.S. is home to numerous people who lack access to computers and computer science instruction. This training gap could prevent already marginalized groups from being empowered with a background in computer science that would increase their potential earnings.

It is well documented that a high score on the Advanced Placement (AP) exam in Computer Science can increase a student’s chance of being accepted at a school with a strong computer science program, saving them time and money pursuing a degree. However, the technology divide defined by geography, economic status, gender, and race persists.

CS4All is intended to remedy some of the technological inequalities across U.S. schools:  

  • CS4All reported that most U.S. high schools do not offer a single computer science course.
  • In 2015, only 22 percent of the students who took the Advanced Placement Computer Science exam were female.
  • Only 13 percent of those who took the AP Computer Science were African-American or Latino and Latina students.

In light of these challenges and the persistent technology divide, it is crucial that students receive computer science training as part of a regular public school curriculum.

Determining Best Strategies for Teaching Computer Science from K-12

Our education researchers sought to address this lack of computer science in K-12 education by launching an effort to establish NCSU as a national center with the aim of providing pre-college students with foundational knowledge in computational thinking. Another goal of the project is to broaden participation in computer science among females and underrepresented minority students.

To accomplish this, our education researchers designed a four-part, systematic approach for improving the value of and access to computer science training.

Our researchers will begin by determining how students best learn key concepts and processes of computer science, and then assess the effectiveness of alternative teaching approaches. Identifying and confronting the challenges a student may face in studying computer science allows educators to improve the learning experience while maximizing the efficacy of teaching methods.

The second element of our approach is to understand how students acquire the core aspects of computer science: designing learning resources to guide and support instruction and learning of computer science. Our researchers will employ emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence-driven tutors and interactive, virtual learning environments to broadly capture the interest of students.

The third component of our project will seek to educate teachers and provide them with professional development resources. The goal is to prepare teachers to best deliver computational science curricula to their students so the students are equipped to work and thrive in a technology-driven economy.  

The last component is designed to support and inform principals, district leaders, local school board members, and state policymakers with decisions about computer science policy and education.

Enabling Our Students to Make the Most of the Digital Economy

Through our work to make computer science accessible to all students, kindergarten through 12th grade, our aim is to increase U.S. students’ foundational knowledge in computational thinking, especially for underrepresented minority students and females.  

This project is response to the “tremendous need” cited by former Present Barack Obama in his 2016 State of the Union address to “empower all students from kindergarten through high school to learn computer science and be equipped with the computational thinking skills they need to be creators in the digital economy, not just consumers, and to be active citizens in our technology-driven world.” 

Share

Partners

  • North Carolina State University

Practice Areas

Education and Workforce Development K-12 Education

Learn More

About GRIP

65 Years
Partner With Us
  • US Government
  • Commercial
  • Foundations & Associations
  • Multilateral Donors
  • Universities
  • Suppliers
Site
  • Privacy Policy
  • Security Policy
  • Site Map
  • Terms of Use
  • Accessibility
  • Contact Us
Contact Us
Facebook Icon Twitter Icon Instagram Icon YouTube Icon Linkedin Icon
delivering the promise of science
for global good
RTI International Logo
RTI Health Solutions RTI Innovation Advisors RTI Health Advance

© 2023 RTI International. RTI International is a trade name of Research Triangle Institute. RTI and the RTI logo are U.S. registered trademarks of Research Triangle Institute.