Evaluation of the IMPACTS Computer Science Presentations

Recent computer science enrollments have shown positive trends. However, these trends are not evenly distributed by gender and race. Efforts to recruit underrepresented students should focus on providing information that demystifies the field of computer science. This paper reports on such an effort to inform underrepresented high school students about the field and its diversity. The results suggest that increasing awareness in an enjoyable format can increase student interest in pursuing computer science. These results can provide guidance about ways to encourage students to take high school computer science classes as motivation and preparation for college-level computer science

Study of access and outcomes from advanced computer science coursework in the Chicago Public Schools\u27\u27 poster in Structured Poster Session CS for All: An intersectional approach to unpacking equity in computer science education

The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has taken a unique approach to broadening participation of low-income students, students of color, and girls by establishing Computer Science (CS) as a high school graduation requirement. This policy ensures that all CPS high school students will take a CS course, starting with the class of 2020. However, equity is more than just access. We define equity as equivalence in both the quality and outcomes of CS experiences. Exploring Computer Science (ECS) is the foundational course that fulfills the CPS requirement. Through ECS professional development, the number of qualified ECS teachers has grown. Two years into policy implementation, three-fourths of the schools offered ECS. Our prior research has shown that ECS participation rates by race, gender, and income closely reflect representation of the corresponding populations in CPS. In addition, student performance on the ECS end-of-course assessment was equivalent by race, gender, and income level. This evidence suggests that the CPS graduation policy is contributing towards equitable access to introductory CS with equitable course outcomes. Another outcome of interest is the equitable pursuit of advanced CS. Our primary research question for this poster is the extent to which there is equitable representation and outcomes of students who pursue advanced CS coursework in CPS. In particular, we focused on enrollment in the AP Computer Science A (CSA) and AP Computer Science Principles (CSP) courses from the 2014--15 to the 2017--18 school year. The 2014--15 school year was the first year that the CSP course was pilot tested in CPS, and the 2016--17 school year was the first year that the CSP exam was available. For every student enrolled in either AP CS course, the dataset included race, gender, special education status, English language learner status, free and reduced lunch status, overall GPA, AP course grade, and AP exam score. During the target period, enrollment in CSA declined from a high of 220 to a low of 136 students, while CSP enrollment increased from a pilot of 29 students to 693 students. The combined representation of students by race and gender in both courses was not reflective of the district\u27s student demographics. However, student representation by race and gender was closer to the district representation for CSP than for CSA. We conducted a multiple regression of the factors that correlated with the AP exam performance. The students\u27 overall GPA and the grade in the course were significantly correlated with exam scores. Girls scored statistically lower than boys and Latinx students scored statistically lower than Caucasian, Asian, and African-American students. Students who took ECS prior to CSP scored statistically higher on the CSP exam. These results show promise that using ECS as a foundation course is helpful for students who go on to pursue AP CSP. However, more work needs to be done to capitalize on the success of ECS to encourage CPS schools to offer AP CS courses and to encourage girls and students from underrepresented minority groups to pursue advanced CS coursework

Self-rated health status and cardiorespiratory fitness as predictors of mortality in men

Self-rated health (SRH) and cardiorespiratory fitness (fitness) are independent risk factors for all-cause mortality. The purpose of this report is to examine the single and joint effects of these exposures on mortality risk. The study included 18 488 men who completed a health survey, clinical examination and a maximal exercise treadmill test during 1987–2003. Cox regression analysis was used to quantify the associations of SRH and fitness with all-cause mortality. There were 262 deaths during 17 years of follow-up. There was a significant inverse trend (ptrend \u3c0.05) for mortality across SRH categories after adjustment for age, examination year, body mass index, physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption, abnormal ECG, hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. Adjustment for fitness attenuated the association (p value =0.09). The authors also observed an inverse association between fitness and mortality after controlling for the same covariates and SRH (ptrend = 0.006). The combined analysis of SRH and fitness showed that fit men with good or excellent SRH had a 58% lower risk of mortality than their counterparts. SRH and fitness were both associated with all-cause mortality in men. Fit men with good or excellent SRH live longer than unfit men with poor or fair SRH

An examination of the factors correlating with course failure in a high school computer science course

Across the United States, enrollment in high school computer science (CS) courses is increasing. These increases, however, are not spread evenly across race and gender. CS remains largely an elective class, and fewer than three-fourths of the states allow it to count towards graduation. The Chicago Public Schools has sought to ensure access for all students by recently enacting computer science as a high school graduation requirement. The primary class that fulfills the graduation requirement is Exploring Computer Science (ECS), a high school introductory course and professional development program designed to foster deep engagement through equitable inquiry around CS concepts. The number of students taking CS in the district increased significantly and these increases are distributed equitably across demographic characteristics. With ECS serving as a core class, it becomes critical to ensure success for all students independent of demographic characteristics, as success in the course directly affects a student\u27s ability to graduate from high school. In this paper, we examine the factors that correlate with student failure in the course. At the student level, attendance and prior general academic performance correlate with passing the class. After controlling for student characteristics, whether or not teachers participated in the professional development program associated with ECS correlates with student success in passing the course. These results provide evidence for the importance of engaging teachers in professional development, in conjunction with requiring a course specifically designed to provide an equitable computer science experience, in order to broaden participation in computing

An Examination of the Correlation of Exploring Computer Science Course Performance and the Development of Programming Expertise

This study investigated patterns in the development of computational thinking and programming expertise in the context of the Exploring Computer Science (ECS) program, a high school introductory CS course and professional development program designed to foster deep engagement through equitable inquiry around CS concepts. Prior research on programming expertise has identified three general areas of development --- program comprehension, program planning, and program generation. The pedagogical practices in ECS are consistent with problem solving approaches that support the development of programming expertise. The study took place in a large urban district during the 2016--17 school year with 28 ECS teachers and 1,931 students. A validated external assessment was used to measure the development of programming expertise. The results indicate that there were medium-sized, statistically significant increases from pretest to posttest, and there were no statistically significant differences by gender or race/ethnicity. After controlling for prior academic achievement, performance in the ECS course correlated with performance on the posttest. With respect to specific programming concepts, the results also provide evidence on the progression of the development of programming expertise. Students seem to develop comprehension and planning expertise prior to expertise in program generation. In addition, students seem to develop expertise with concrete tasks prior to abstract tasks

Does a Computer Science Graduation Requirement Contribute to Increased Enrollment in Advanced Computer Science Coursework?

Prior research has shown that students pursuing Exploring Computer Science (ECS) as their first elective course were more likely to pursue another computer science course in high school, as compared to students who took a traditional course as the first course. This study investigated whether the results are consistent when students are pursuing ECS to fulfill the Chicago Public Schools\u27 graduation requirement. ECS is designed to foster deep engagement through equitable inquiry around computer science concepts. It is hypothesized that students who are fulfilling a graduation requirement will pursue additional computer science coursework at rates similar to students who were pursuing ECS as an elective course

Associations of Anti-Aquaporin 5 Autoantibodies with Serologic and Histopathological Features of Sjogren's Syndrome

Biomarkers to stratify the complex and heterogeneous phenotypes of Sjogren's syndrome (SS) are needed. We aimed to validate the prevalence of anti-aquaporin 5 (AQP5) IgG in a non-Korean cohort and to optimize the method to screen the anti-AQP5 IgG. The study cohort included 111 primary SS and 43 non-SS Sjogren's International Collaborative Clinical Alliance (SICCA) controls that were obtained from the Sjogren's International Collaborative Clinical Alliance registry, in addition to 35 systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and 35 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) phenotypes. Anti-AQP5 IgG was screened by cell-based immunofluorescence cytochemistry (CB-IFC) assay in the absence or presence of epitope peptides, as well as by ELISA using the epitope peptides as coated antigens. Anti-AQP5 IgG specific to an E1 epitope was best at discriminating between SS and non-SS, and the two different methods (CB-IFC and ELISA) presented comparable performance in diagnostic accuracy (0.690 vs. 0.707). Notably, the SLE and RA groups had substantially lower levels of anti-AQP5 IgG than the SS group. In addition, the presence of anti-AQP5_E1 IgG was associated with serologic and histopathological features of SS. In conclusion, a similar prevalence of anti-AQP5 IgG was confirmed in a non-Korean cohort. Screening anti-AQP5 autoantibodies may help to form subgroups of SS for targeted therapy.Y

Does a Taste of Computing Increase Computer Science Enrollment?

The Exploring Computer Science (ECS) high school curriculum is designed to foster deep engagement through equitable inquiry around computer science concepts. We have shown that students find ECS courses personally relevant, are increasing their expectancies of success and perceived value for the field of computer science, and are more likely to take another computing course

Equal Outcomes 4 All: A Study of Student Learning in ECS

This study investigated patterns in the development of computational thinking practices in the context of the Exploring Computer Science (ECS) program, a high school introductory CS course and professional development program designed to foster deep engagement through equitable inquiry around CS concepts. Past research indicates that the personal relevance of the ECS experience influences students\u27 expectancy-value towards computer science. Expectancy-value is a construct that is predictive of career choices. We extended our research to examine whether expectancy-value influences the development of computational thinking practices. This study took place in the context of two ECS implementation projects across two states. Twenty teachers, who implemented ECS in 2016-17, participated in the research. There were 906 students who completed beginning and end of year surveys and assessments. The surveys included demographic questions, a validated expectancy-value scale, and questions about students\u27 course experiences. The assessments were developed and validated by SRI International as a companion to the ECS course. Overall, student performance statistically increased from pretest to posttest with effect size of 0.74. There were no statistically significant differences in performance by gender or race/ethnicity. These results are consistent with earlier findings that a personally relevant course experience positively influences students\u27 expectancy for success. These results expanded on prior research by indicating that students\u27 expectancy-value for computer science positively influenced student learning