Bahrain School awarded for achieving high female representation in AP Computer Science

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain School has earned the College Board's AP® Computer Science Female Diversity Award for expanding young women's access to AP Computer Science Principles (CSP) and achieving high female representation in AP Computer Science.

The award acknowledges schools for their work toward equal gender representation during the school year.

Bahrain School is one of only 760 schools across the world to be awarded for achieving this important result in AP CSP.

The honour recognizes the outstanding work the school is doing to engage more female students in computer science.

Research shows that female students who take #APCSP in high school are more than five times as likely to major in computer science in college.

Providing female students with access to computer science courses is critical to ensuring gender parity in the industry’s high-paying jobs and to driving innovation, creativity, and representation.

“We’re thrilled to congratulate our female AP computer science students and their teachers on this step toward gender parity in computer science education,” Bahrain Middle/High School Assistant Principal Bernadine Camuso said.

“We’re honoured that our school earned this distinction and look forward to seeing these young women and others pursue and achieve success in computer science education and careers.”

Stefanie Sanford, College Board chief of Global Policy and External Relations said that by encouraging young women to study advanced computer science coursework, Bahrain School is closing the gap in computer science education and empowering young women to access the opportunities available in STEM career fields.

“Computer science is the foundation of many 21st-century career options, and young women deserve equal opportunities to pursue computer science education and drive technological innovation,” she said.

The first year of AP Computer Science Principles in 2016-17 attracted more students than any other AP course debut, and participation is on the rise.

In 2021, more than 116,000 students took the AP CSP Exam—more than double the number of exam takers in the course’s first year. In 2021, 39,218 women took the AP CSP Exam, nearly three times the number who tested in 2017.

Providing female students with access to computer science courses is critical to ensuring gender parity in the industry’s high-paying jobs and to driving innovation, creativity, and representation. The median annual wage for computer and information technology occupations was $91,250 in May 2020.

However, a code.org analysis of 2017 Bureau of Labor Statistics data finds women represent just 24% of the five million people in computing occupations. Computing jobs are the number one source of new wages in the U.S., although 67% of all new jobs in STEM are in computing, only 11% of STEM bachelor’s degrees are in computer science.

That’s why College Board research about AP CSP is so encouraging. According to the data, female students who take AP CSP in high school are more than five times as likely to major in computer science in college, compared to female students of similar background and academic preparation who did not take CSP.

The study also finds AP CSP students are nearly twice as likely to enrol in AP CSA, and that for most students, AP CSP serves as a stepping stone to other advanced AP STEM coursework.

These findings highlight the importance of schools achieving gender parity in AP computer science classrooms.

Overall, female students remain underrepresented in high school computer science classes, accounting for just 34% of AP Computer Science Principles participants and 25% of AP Computer Science participants.