The program
A learning ecosystem, not a one-off event
BRIGHT-CS brought together schools, universities, community organizations, families and women working in computing around a single cohort of girls at each school. Coding days and camps can spark interest, but their effects often fade. BRIGHT-CS surrounded girls with ongoing support from people who reflected their experiences, and our published findings now shape how we prepare young people for careers in computing+tech and AI.
A cohort at school
Girls from the same middle school met weekly for nine months to solve real problems with technology and present their work to mentors, school leaders and families.
A summer on campus
A two-week summer experience at a local university or nonprofit extended learning beyond the school year.
Mentors who had been there
Women of color working in computing, along with community leaders and entrepreneurs, mentored and taught each cohort.
Families and schools as partners
Teachers, school staff and caregivers were part of the ecosystem, with a curriculum featuring Black women technologists and entrepreneurs.
What we found
At the start, most girls said they felt very confident about learning computer science. That confidence often faltered at the first real difficulty. Over the program, our research traced how it became something sturdier.
-
1
Mentors sent quiet signals of belonging
Mentors treated girls as capable from day one: asking for their ideas, inviting them to teach, and naming the strengths they saw.
-
2
Struggle was named as part of learning
Mentors shared their own stories of difficulty and growth, so asking questions and making mistakes began to feel safe.
-
3
Girls proved it to themselves
Girls began debugging their own work, finishing products that worked, and setting out to improve them.
By the end of the first semester
- ~12
girls overcame a project challenge by reaching out to a mentor, instructor or peer for help, several after first avoiding questions for fear of judgment.
- 10
described hitting a problem and figuring it out on their own.
- 6
built working technology products they had authored from top to bottom.
What it taught us
Approach matters more than a perfect match
The mentors who made the biggest difference shared their own paths through barriers and assumed the girls already had aptitude. Their approach mattered more than matching each student's exact background.
Peers matter most where girls are few
The cohort had its strongest effect at schools where participants were often the only girls of color in advanced classes. Peer support became part of how they learned.
Showing up is the hardest part
Attendance was our biggest challenge: 58% of girls completed the afterschool program. We now design for retention from the start, with stipends, devices and follow-up built in.
Our work with young people
BRIGHT-CS is part of a longer commitment to reaching girls and young people early, and to building the network that supports them.
- 2017
Black Women in Computing: A Research Agenda, published with Howard University, sets out the questions our research pursues.
- 2018–2020
The #blackcomputeHER Conference includes a K-12 student track at three consecutive Conferences.
- 2019
BRIGHT-CS launches with cohorts at four middle schools in New York and Virginia.
- 2020
Findings published at ACM SIGCSE. The #blackcomputeHER Conference offers parent-student registration alongside its K-12 track.
- 2020–2026
We grow a paid network of experts, mentors and 100+ Fellows, many now working in AI and data science.
- Next
We're bringing these lessons to preparing young people ages 15–24 for careers in the computing+tech and AI economy.
Research team
Madrigal, V., Yamaguchi, R., Hall, A., and Burge, J. (2020). Promoting and Supporting Computer Science Among Middle School Girls of Color: Initial Findings from BRIGHT-CS. Proceedings of the 51st ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE '20), Portland, OR.
This research was funded by the National Science Foundation (Award #1752436).
- blackcomputeHER.org
- Jamika D. Burge, PhD
- Education First Consulting
- Veronica Madrigal
- Plus Alpha Research & Consulting
- Ryoko Yamaguchi
- Plus Alpha Research & Consulting
- Adam Hall