Increasing Capacity for Computer Science Education in Rural Areas through a Large-Scale Collective Impact Model

Students living in rural areas are less likely to attend schools that offer computer science (CS) courses largely because educational institutions in these remote areas lack the resources to staff teaching positions for these courses. This study investigated the impact of WeTeach\_CS, a program designed to train teachers to become certified to teach high school CS in Texas. The WeTeach\_CS collective impact model may be well suited to influence rural areas at scale because it utilizes an existing network of organizations across the state to bring high-quality professional development opportunities to teachers in remote areas. Results from a comparative interrupted time series analysis showed a significant, positive change in the rate in which the number of certified CS teachers in rural areas increased during the period of time after WeTeach\_CS began compared to the period before the program was implemented, whereas the number of teachers certified in technology applications showed no such change. Furthermore, the growth rate in the number of certified CS teachers was much higher for rural schools than urban, suggesting that collective impact models like WeTeach\_CS may be especially beneficial for rural communities.