Posted by Deb Harding on Feb 24, 2021
Text reads: The CSTA Equity Fellows present: Equity in Action Summit, Saturday, March 6, 2021. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET. Image is of a circuit board forming the image of a tree.
The 2021 Equity in Action Summit is a virtual event designed to bring together K-12 computer science teachers for a call to action to transform our approach in providing equitable CS education.

Overview

CSTA Equity Tree: a circuit board made up of nodes that form a tree imageThe Equity in Action Summit is a virtual event designed to bring together K-12 computer science teachers for a call to action to transform our approach in providing equitable CS education. The summit will explore topics that include transforming our approach to providing CS education rooted in justice and engaging in strategies to equip ourselves with resources on representation, access, and culturally sustaining pedagogies. The event will conclude with attendees developing an action plan to increase CS education access to all students and to empower students to use CS in a just way.

Opening Keynote

2021 Equity in Action Summit keynote speaker Dr. Allison Scott. The summit kicks off with Dr. Allison Scott, CEO of the Kapor Center Foundation, who will set the purpose for our day of learning, sharing her perspectives on Re-imaging Racial Justice and Computer Science Education: An opportunity for reflection, strategy, and action. 

Breakout Sessions

Within three breakout sessions, participants will select from 30 different workshops that provide them an opportunity to dive deeper into topics ranging from sharing voice and power with students, examining practices that increase access to marginalized students in CS, inclusive teaching practices, affirming student identities, and culturally sustaining pedagogy and curriculum design. There are sessions applicable to all levels of PK-12 education!

Sharing Voice and Power
Sessions on this topic include strategies on how to give voice through PBL, giving voice and power to young learners, and empowering student voice through data and practice.

Increasing Access: Diversifying CS Field
Topics include how to conduct an equity audit, proven strategies for broadening recruitment, participation, and retention in CS for BIPOC and female students.

Inclusive Teaching Practices
A number of sessions provide insight into instructional strategies you can put in place tomorrow. Topics include supporting emergent bilingual students in CS, SEL strategies for distance learning, helping students with disabilities find success in the CS classroom, leveraging Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in CS, inclusive teaching practices for underrepresented groups and tops and tools for engaging diverse learners. 

Affirming Student Identities
Topics examine how to promote and affirm students’ identities, culture, and heritage in CS. Some sessions specifically address intersectionality, LGBTQ+ and indigenous students.

Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy and Curriculum Design
Some sessions provide insight to CS teachers on how to engage in hard conversations with students related to social injustices in our society and develop an understanding of antiracism and how racism shows up in our practice. There are a number of sessions that help you expand your pedagogical practices to be more culturally relevant and sustaining. Topics include a focus on equity, justice, and cultural relevance in curriculum design and assessment, culturally situated design tools, equitable coding program design, and integration of CS skills and processes across all content areas.

Action Planning

The Equity in Action Summit concludes with a guided session by two of the summit planners, Lily Mora and Dominick Sanders. The premise of the summit is to shift from conversations about equity and move towards action – putting it into practice. Participants will have an opportunity to start action planning: identify a goal and begin planning out the action(s) you plan to take as a result of your learning experiences and networking during the summit.

Closing Keynote

Headshot of 2021 Equity in Action Summit closing keynote speaker Dr. Kamau Bobb sitting outside Google headquartersThe event will conclude with a keynote address by Dr. Kamau Bobb, the Global Lead for Diversity Strategy and Research at Google and the founding Senior Director of the Constellations Center for Equity in Computing at Georgia Tech. Dr. Bobb’s address, CS Education at an American Inflection, will be a discussion of computing education when democracy is under siege.

And More

We are proud to offer licenses to view the film Coded Bias for all attendees. This film explores the harmful impact of machine-learning algorithms on people and how the unjust algorithms perpetuate issues of bias. On Wednesday, April 14, at 7 p.m. ET you can attend a Q&A with Coded Bias filmmaker, Shalini Kantayya.
As we countdown the days until the Equity In Action Summit on March 6, 2021, check out the Twitter chat “What does equity in action mean to you?” #CSEquityinAction hosted by Dominick Sanders at his handle @1_d_sanders. This chat was held on Feb. 17, and you can check out the conversation by searching #CSEquityinAction on Twitter. As Lily Mora shares, “Equity in CS is doing whatever it takes to ensure that ALL students have the opportunity to play in PreK-12, take a class in 9-12, engage in a culturally relevant curriculum, and feel welcome to study or practice CS.”
CSTA Equity in Action StatementCS equity is not a one-day event but a journey filled with mistakes and successes. This path to Equity In CS can be difficult, overwhelming, and lonely at times so the Equity Fellows and CSTA want to provide a community for us to learn, converse, reflect, take action and celebrate success together.
Our passion is to continue providing a space to support each other as we take action and give our students CS superpowers to make a more just society. We look forward to growing and taking action together.