Building the Cyber Pipeline: Providing CS Education For Rural K-12 Schools

Abstract

In the push to broaden participation in computer science (CS) within the United States, there have been a number of highly successful efforts to engage urban high schools and communities. As urban areas often have high concentrations of poverty and underrepresented populations, these efforts meet a well-known need, and have a strong potential impact. However, urban audiences are not the only ones to lack adequate computer science education opportunities. In the United States, 1 in 5 people live in a rural area [19], and studies consistently show that rural areas offer fewer opportunities for students to engage with computer science than their urban and suburban peers [4, 16, 22]. While some of the challenges rural schools face are shared by urban schools, the rural schools also have unique challenges that must be understood before engaging in successful intervention efforts. This paper describes one effort to support rural schools, their teachers, and their students. We seek to share the lessons we have learned in the hope that other programs may benefit.