Broadening participation in computing: K12-community-college-university-graduate pathways

Abstract

The Commonwealth Alliance for Information Technology Education (CAITE) is designing and carrying out comprehensive programs that address under-representation in information technology (IT). CAITE focuses on women and minorities in groups that are underrepresented in most aspects of the Massachusetts innovation economy - economically, academically, and socially disadvantaged residents - and supports multiple points of entry into a broad spectrum of IT educational programs that provide multiple opportunities for learning and careers. Community colleges are the linchpin of the CAITE approach and strategy because of the central role they play in reaching out to underserved populations and in serving as a gateway to careers and further higher education. CAITE focuses on high-school-to-community-college-to-university-to-graduate school pathways, but also reaches out into middle schools and to adult populations. We report on our progress in the three CAITE regions (Boston, southeastern Massachusetts, and western Massachusetts). We describe the challenges of carrying out a multiple region, nine-institution project, our outcomes, and the assessment data collected on the CAITE programs.