Catherine Ashcraft

So Much More Than “Sex Ed”: Teen Sexuality as Vehicle for Improving Academic Success and Democratic Education for Diverse Youth

Although sexuality saturates adolescent life, schools do little to address teen sexuality. As educators feel increasingly burdened by competing societal demands, caring for youth sexual health becomes a secondary goal at best. This article argues that the public health costs are only one reason for addressing sexuality in schools and suggests that academic and democratic reasons for addressing sexuality also exist. It illustrates how sexuality can be a potentially powerful resource for increasing the academic achievement and civic engagement of a diverse range of youth. As such, addressing sexuality serves not only public health goals but also academic and democratic goals—goals that have long been central for schools. To make this argument, the author draws from her ethnography of ESPERANZA, a community-based sex education program, illustrating how ESPERANZA used teen interest in sexuality to help youth become leaders, increase academic skills, expand career aspirations, and engage in democratic civic action.

Be Careful What You Ask For Exploring the Confusion around and Usefulness of the Male Teacher as Male Role Model Discourse

Current educational reform efforts have called attention to the need for more male teachers, primarily in elementary education. Recent scholarship, however, has highlighted significant problems with some of the assumptions underlying these calls, arguing that if we are to incorporate male teachers in ways that truly challenge dominant discourses of masculinity, we must address questions such as why we need more male teachers and what masculinities these teachers will model. Importantly, research has shown that men do not question what it means to be a male teacher or a male role model. The authors seek to extend this research by inquiring into the confusion surrounding the concept and consequences of this confusion. The authors contend that the idea of a male role model needs questioning, the illusion of clarity it offers is potentially dangerous, and disrupting this idea could potentially rearticulate male participation in elementary teaching in more liberating ways.

But How Do We Talk About It?: Critical Literacy Practices for Addressing Sexuality With Youth

Abstract To date, literacy educators receive little instruction and, indeed, little research exists on facilitating critical discussions about sexuality in classrooms. Addressing these issues with students, however, grows increasingly urgent, particularly in light of critical media literacy efforts and progressive literacy pedagogies that incorporate students’ identities and life experiences into the classroom. Given the pervasive nature of sexuality in popular culture and in adolescent lives, such efforts are far less likely to be effective if educators ignore or repress this significant area of student experience. Addressing sexuality, however, is important not only because the current trend to ignore it is impeding current critical literacy efforts, but also because sexuality is itself an important site for students’ critical literacy development. In this article, I draw from my 9‐month ethnographic study of a community‐based educational program to offer an initial look at what classroom languages and practices for critical discussions of sexuality might look like. At the same time, I illustrate how these critical examinations of sexuality were frequently undermined by competing discourses of self‐esteem. Ultimately, I identify implications for educators in public school classrooms, taking into account their differing constraints.

Controversy, citizenship, and counterpublics: developing democratic habits of mind

A wealth of research suggests the importance of classroom discussion of controversial issues for adequately preparing students for participation in democratic life. Teachers, and the larger public, however, still shy away from such discussion. Much of the current research seeking to remedy this state of affairs focuses exclusively on developing knowledge and skills. While important, this ignores significant ways in which students’ beliefs about the concept or nature of controversy itself might affect such discussions and potentially, the sort of citizen that educators are fostering. We argue that examining the concept of ‘controversy’ is central to conducting such discussions and propose a framework of four crucial virtues or habits of mind that can be developed through such an examination. We illustrate how these four habits of mind are essential for establishing classroom ‘counterpublics’ that aim to develop more justice-oriented democratic citizens.

Breaking the “Glass Slipper”: What Diversity Interventions Can Learn from the Historical Evolution of Occupational Identity in ICT and Commercial Aviation

This chapter examines parallels in the evolution of two occupational identities – commercial airline flying and ICT work – and the implications for current diversification interventions. We begin by conceptualizing occupational identity and diversification through the “glass slipper” metaphor. We then demonstrate the empirical potential of this framework with a cross-case analysis of how these dynamics are at play in the historical evolution of the aforementioned professions. Finally, we consider how these cases, weighed together, implicate scholars and practitioners, especially research on technical-scientific work and so-called diversity interventions in ICT occupations.

Technology and sexuality – what's the connection? Addressing youth sexualities in efforts to increase girls' participation in computing

To date, girls and women are significantly underrepresented in computer science and technology. Concerns about this underrepresentation have sparked a wealth of educational efforts to promote girls’ participation in computing, but these programs have demonstrated limited impact on reversing current trends. This paper argues that this is, in part, because these programs tend to take a narrow view of their purpose, ignoring important factors that shape girls’ identities and education/career choices – not least broader narratives around gender, race, and sexuality. This paper focuses on the issue of sexuality – that is, how sexuality discourses are shaping a diverse range of girls’ experiences with technology, their perceptions of themselves, and their ultimate educational and career choices. The paper makes the case for considering these important connections, bringing together research in two disparate areas: (1) sociological research in gender, diversity, and technology and (2) critical cultural studies research in youth sexualities and schooling.

What Would You Say if...: Responding to Microaggressions, Bias, and Other Nonsense

Many SIGCSE attendees are committed to inclusive teaching practices and creating an inclusive culture within their classrooms; yet, advocating for and sustaining these initiatives may require having difficult conversations with our colleagues and students. Understandably, many faculty are unsure about how to talk about sensitive topics such as race and gender with their colleagues and students. Research suggests that practicing some of these difficult conversations is essential to achieve the goals of inclusive teaching and culture. Most SIGCSE attendees probably use active learning throughout their teaching, but we rarely see active learning at SIGCSE - lets try it! In this interactive session, attendees will learn strategies for responding to bias in academic settings. Attendees will then practice those strategies in small groups. This will be facilitated by playing two rounds of a research-based game learning approach developed by the NSF project CSTeachingTips.org (#1339404), which has been tested in group of 200 teaching assistants. This is the fifth iteration of the game-learning approach and all attendees will receive a printed copy of the game and a link to download and print more copies.

Gender, Commercialization and Thought Leadership in Computing: Examining Women’s Participation in Information Technology Patenting and Conference Paper Authorship

Few studies have investigated gendered patterns in IT patenting or authorship, but understanding female participation in these areas is important if we are to increase women’s meaningful participation in recognized and rewarded aspects of IT innovation. This chapter reports findings from two studies: one on female rates of patenting and one on female authorship of computing conference papers. In short, we demonstrate that while women’s participation remains low, especially in terms of patenting, important increases have been made over time. We also examine variation in these rates of patenting and authorship across companies and across conferences, ultimately identifying some important implications for increasing women’s meaningful participation in key commercial and intellectual aspects of computing.

Case Studies of Use: Creating Counselor Champions for Change in K12 Computing Education (Abstract Only)

Counselors for Computing leverages the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT)s organizational membership, applies evidence-based approaches for professional development, and monitors and adjusts practices to make inroads into CS education through K12 counselor engagement. This engagement is needed to assure more girls and other underrepresented people are prepared for careers in computing. Colleges and universities, businesses, youth-serving organizations, computer science educators, professional counselor associations and others work to bring C4C to places where reform is underway (e.g., CS Principles, CS10K, Exploring Computer Science initiatives). These new education and teaching initiatives have implications for K12 student computer science guidance, and C4C materials can provide the knowledge necessary to promote counselor and educator engagement with computing. In this poster presentation, the authors: a) illustrate how computer science educators have partnered with NCWIT and incorporated counselor education into multiple elements of their own work, b) direct K12 computer science educators and stakeholders to free resources developed for C4C, c) provide initial evidence of the programs effectiveness, and d) develop future partnerships with poster viewers at SIGCSE 2015 to educate K12 counselors about the opportunities available for their students in the computing fields.

How do we measure success?: a new instrument for evaluating girls' progress in middle and high school computing programs (abstract only)

Girls and women continue to be underrepresented in technology. This persistent underrepresentation inhibits innovation by ignoring the diverse perspectives and life experiences women bring to invention and problem solving. Furthermore, disregard for girls and womens participation exacerbates existing economic disparities for women. To reverse these trends, a number of programs designed to engage girls in computing have emerged in recent years. Often these programs are not evaluated, or if they are, informal surveys are used. These instruments are usually unable to adequately assess change in interest, confidence and future plans for computing. In addition, sample sizes tend to be small and, because different programs use different surveys, results cannot be aggregated or compared across programs. To address this gap, NCWIT has been piloting a new evaluation instrument informed by Social Cognitive Career Theory (Lent et al., 2008). The instrument was piloted with two groups of girls: 312 Globaloria middle and high school students and 1500 girls who applied to NCWITs Aspirations program from 2007 to 2013. Reliability analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted for both datasets, showing high internal consistency. This poster session will provide more detail on the instrument, how it has been used and tested, and next steps in scaling its use. In making this tool widely available, we hope to increase consistency in the evaluation of girls? participation in computing education programs, enabling us to increase sample sizes; compare results across programs; and accelerate contributions to the gender and computing knowledge base.