The Good, The Could-Be-Better, And The All-Too-Well: Low-Income Students in CSEd Washington 2021-22

The Good

Washington is one of the few states that have targeted a specific underserved population in its computer science education legislation. Washington gives preference to schools with high percentages of low-income students in its grants for computer science education.

Washington’s legislative support for low-income students in computer science education yields positive results compared to other states. There is a relatively small drop off in the percentage of low-income students (84%) who attend a school that offers computer science (SOCS) versus the percentage of non-low-income students (87%) in a SOCS.

Nationally, 52% of students are low-income, and 80% are in SOCS. A breakdown by low-income students in SOCS is not available.

Washington particularly shines in the relative participation of low-income students enrolled in computer science. While the relative participation percentage (% of all CS students that are low income / % of all students who are low income) is 67% nationwide, it is 89% in Washington.

The Not-So-Good

Despite Washington’s strengths in supporting low-income students in computer science, our blog post, Exploring Key Predictors of HS CS Enrollment in Washington, points to school income (% of low-income students) as the strongest predictor of whether a student participates in computer science. This seems to contradict Washington’s strong relative participation (89%) among low-income students described above. We need to dig a little under the covers. Is this caused by the lack of computer science courses in schools with higher low-income student rates? Or is it caused by a lack of participation in computer science courses by low-income students even though the courses exist?

The charts below divide Washington schools into five income categories and investigate CSEd access and participation rates in each:

• < 20% low-income
• 20-40% low-income
• 40-60% low-income
• 60-80% low-income
• >80 % low-income

 

The first chart – Access in Washington SOCS – shows how Washington’s students are distributed among these five income categories, the percentage of schools in each category that are SOCS, and the percentage of students in each category that are not in SOCS. Takeaways:

• Except for schools with less than < 20% low-income students, the percentage of schools that offer computer science (SOCS) drops significantly the higher the percentage of low-income students in the school.
• The percentage of students that are not in SOCS is significantly higher in schools with > 40% low-income students (18.9%) (Title 1 schools) than those with < 40% low-income (8.6%).
• Further calculations show that a low-income student’s relative access (vs. population) in a SOCS is 98% despite these inequities.

The second chart – CSEd Participation Percentage – shows the overall CS participation rates within all schools (blue) in an income category and within just the SOCS (orange) in the category. The gap between the blue and orange lines is the loss of student participation in CS due to the absence of CS courses at their schools. Takeaways:

• CS participation is much greater in schools with less than 20% low-income students (12.4%) than otherwise (6.9%). Except for schools with less than 20% low-income, the CS participation percentage is relatively flat among the school income categories.
• The absence of CS courses at their schools significantly lowers CSEd participation in schools with greater than 40% low-income students (Title 1 schools).
• The few SOCS with low-income students > 80% have a higher-than-expected CS participation rate, which is a welcomed sight.

And the All-Too-Well

The third chart, CSEd Participation Percentage in Washington SOCS, looks at the CSEd participation rate of low-income and non-low-income students within SOCS. Key takeaways:

• The CSEd relative participation rate (vs. population) of low-income students in SOCS is 90% (separate calculation)
• The participation rate of low-income students within SOCS is relatively flat, with an average of 8.1%. The highest CSEd participation rate of low-income students (9.8%) is in SOCS, where more than 80% are low-income students.
• The difference between the CSEd participation rates of low-income and non-low-income students is dramatic (14.9% vs. 8.9%) in SOCS with less than 20% low-income students, moderate (8.3% vs. 7.5%) in SOCS and minuscule elsewhere.
• The 32 SOCS with less than 20% low-income (8.7% of all SOCS) account for more than 65% of the difference between the participation rates of low-income and non-low-income students in Washington SOCS.

Summary

The relative CSEd participation rate (vs. population) of low-income students is 89% in Washington. This compares very favorably to 67% nationwide.

The relative access rate (vs. population) of low-income students to a CS course in their school is 98%. The relative participation rate (vs. population) of low-income students in a SOCS (school offering CS) is 90%. These two rates together result in the total 89% relative CSEd participation rate (vs. population) of low-income students.

Despite Washington’s 98% relative access rate for low-income students, the percentage of SOCS drops precipitously as the percentage of low-income students in a school rises.

The difference between the CSEd participation rates of low-income and non-low-income students is dramatic (14.9% vs. 8.9%) in SOCS with less than 20% low-income students, moderate (8.3% vs. 7.5%) in SOCS and minuscule elsewhere. The small number of SOCS with less than 20% low-income (32 of 365) students account for 65% of the difference in SOC participation rates between low-income and non-low-income students.

About the data

National data comes from the 2023 State of Computer Science Education report from Code.org, CSTA, and ECEP Alliance.

Washington data is from the 2021-22 K–12 Computer Science Education Data Summary Report published by OSPI in June 2023. The CSforAll Washington website provides a dashboard displaying this data: https://www.csforallwa.org/data.

The Washington data report uses the term “low-income,” which is roughly the same as “eligible for free and reduced lunch” and “economically disadvantaged.”

The Washington CS participation data used for this study is a broader measure (e.g. includes higher percentages) than will be used in future versions of the report. The Washington CS participation data is also broader than the national data because it includes courses such as Web Design which are not included in national data. While using this broader measure may affect the absolute percentages, it does not reduce the value of this analysis.

The 2022-23 version of the data summary report promises to be more accurate and a much richer source of analysis. We look forward to repeating this analysis and more after the 2022-23 report is published.