Expanding Access to Foundational Computer Science Education

Computer science (CS) fuels innovation, boosts economic mobility, and enhances real-world problem-solving. However, the opportunity to take foundational CS courses has yet to reach many high school students. In 2024–2025, only 60% of U.S. high schools offered a foundational CS course, with only 6.1% of students nationwide participating in such a course.¹ We created EDC’s Beauty and Joy of Computing (BJC) School Implementation Program to address this gap. With the support of an Education Innovation Research (EIR) grant from the U.S. Department of Education, our team has helped high schools in 11 states launch or expand Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles (AP CSP) courses through a structured support system.

Why AP Computer Science Principles?

The College Board launched AP CSP in 2016 to broaden participation in foundational CS by introducing students to the creative potential of CS, computational thinking, algorithmic logic, and how computing shapes society. Today, foundational CS literacy is not just for future programmers; it is necessary for any student navigating artificial intelligence (AI), automated data systems, and our increasingly digital society.

EDC developed the Beauty and Joy of Computing (BJC) curriculum in partnership with the University of California, Berkeley. BJC was one of the first AP CSP curricula endorsed by the College Board, and emphasizes learning by doing, creativity, student-centered projects, and the social implications of computing. It uses a blocks-based visual programming language (Snap!) which allows students to intuitively gain access to important programming concepts.

Research indicates that students who take AP CSP are more likely to enroll in advanced STEM classes and declare CS majors in college.² Despite these benefits, many schools lack the infrastructure and staffing to provide access to the course, and many teachers lack the targeted professional development and school supports needed to lead a rigorous CS classroom.

Study and program details

The BJC School Implementation Program provides high schools with the supports needed to offer AP CSP, as well as to grow course enrollment and support student success in the course. With funding from our EIR grant, we partnered with 32 high schools across 11 states to implement a three-pronged program model:

1. Use of BJC. Each participating teacher committed to using the freely available BJC materials as their primary resource for implementing the AP CSP course for at least two academic years.
2. Teacher learning program. This comprehensive program offered intensive summer institutes to introduce BJC, as well as school-year sessions, virtual office hours, and an online forum to support ongoing use and help teachers prepare students for the AP exam. These supports were particularly important because two-thirds of the teachers were in their first or second year of teaching AP CSP, and only half held a formal certification or degree in CS. Many had transitioned to teaching CS from mathematics, science, or business education, with some continuing to teach courses across multiple departments simultaneously.
3. School CS planning process. Each participating school engaged in a collaborative planning process that paired school CS teams with program staff in regular consultations, with the goal of building customized long-term enrollment, student success, and sustainability strategies.

To understand the BJC School Implementation Program’s reach and efficacy, Abt Global conducted an independent implementation and impact evaluation using a quasi-experimental design, comparing outcomes for students in schools that implemented the program to outcomes for a matched set of comparison students enrolled in AP CSP in a school that did not implement the program.

What did the evaluation find?

This comprehensive evaluation³ yielded clear insights for the program, including measurable progress in increasing access to AP CSP:

• High implementation fidelity. Teachers and schools successfully implemented all three core components—BJC use, professional development, and the planning process—matching or exceeding rigorous evaluation thresholds.
• Growth in student enrollment. Descriptive analyses showed a positive trend: on average, student enrollment in AP CSP increased following program implementation. Eight of the participating schools were offering AP CSP for the first time, so their pre-program enrollment was zero; average enrollment was 32 students in Year 1, and 20 students in Year 2 (likely, the Year 1 numbers were higher due to latent demand for the course). Twenty-one schools had offered AP CSP previously, averaging 18 students enrolled the year before the program. Those schools saw AP CSP enrollment jump, on average, to 32 students in Year 1 (a 78% increase compared to pre-program) and 41 students in Year 2 (128% increase).
• Strong participation among students from groups that are underrepresented in the CS workforce. Of the more than 1,800 students reached by the program during the grant period, over 75% were female, Black, Hispanic, and/or from low-income families.
• Supporting student success as enrollment grows. Findings show that students in the participating BJC schools had statistically similar course completion, AP exam scores, and pass rates to the students in the comparison group. Even as enrollment grew, BJC student performance tracked closely alongside the matched comparison students.

The report also recommends investigation of program enhancements that could increase the program’s impact on course passing and test scores, as well as additional research on enrollment trends.

Empowering educators: Insights from teacher surveys

Survey data collected by EDC captured teachers’ assessments of their own preparedness, effectiveness, and confidence across several timepoints (prior to participating in the program, after the week-long summer PD, and/or at the mid-point and end of each academic year). Using a series of paired sample t-tests, we found positive, statistically significant growth in how teachers rated their own practice across both years of the program:

• Growth in preparedness. Teachers reported significant growth in instructional preparedness for teaching CS across eight surveyed dimensions from pre-participation to post-summer PD. The most pronounced effects were observed in teachers’ confidence to make students feel affirmed and comfortable in a CS course. Moderate-to-large effects were also demonstrated for other essential classroom practices, including teaching students who are English language learners, encouraging general student interest in CS, and planning differentiated instruction.
• Positive change in self-efficacy for teaching CS. From pre-participation to the end of the second year, teachers reported a statistically significant increase in overall self-efficacy for CS teaching. Furthermore, their comfort level with the BJC curriculum improved significantly from the middle of their first year of use to the end of their second.

In addition, the surveys asked teachers for feedback on the consultation process. Teachers consistently rated the consultations as highly useful, noting that they appreciated the dedicated, structured time to set customized goals and troubleshoot challenges to AP CSP implementation and growth.

Conclusion

Increasing access to CS education requires more than just making CS courses available; it demands intentional, coordinated planning, robust teacher support, and high-quality instructional materials. The BJC School Implementation Program demonstrates that providing these supports in an integrated way can successfully increase AP CS enrollment while maintaining course completion and exam passing rates. By expanding access while keeping academic success steady, we have shown that a clear, supportive pathway toward success in foundational CS courses is possible at a much larger scale.

Resources

Want to expand CS at your school? Explore our free, publicly available materials:

• The Beauty and Joy of Computing (BJC) Curriculum: Access the free high school course materials online
• Read our 2026 paper, “School Implementation Planning to Support Access and Success in AP CSP”
• Read our 2025 paper, “School Implementation Planning for Equitable AP CSP”

References

¹Code.org. (2025). 2025 State of AI + CS Education. code.org

²Wyatt, J., Feng, J., & Ewing, M. (2020). AP Computer Science Principles and the STEM and computer science pipelines. College Board. collegeboard.org

³Abt Global LLC. (2026). The Beauty and Joy of Computing School Implementation Program: Implementation and Impact Evaluation [Final evaluation report].