Student Leadership, Systems Change: Opportunities and Tensions for Youth Impact on District-Wide Computer Science Initiatives

Computer Science education (CSed) often aims to position youth as designers, creators, and those with a voice in their world. But do youth have opportunities to design, create, and have voice around the shape of their CSed learning experiences? In this study, we explore ways that school districts engage youth to contribute to the shaping and enactment of their CS instructional systems, efforts districts make to have these leadership roles create impact within these systems, and the tensions associated with these processes. Through in depth analysis of five district case studies, our findings highlight variance around the nature of leadership roles , how access to leadership roles is structured, student autonomy within and ownership over leadership roles, how roles reach into and index differential power over instructional systems , and how district processes of scaffolding and infrastructuring mediate the ultimate impact that students in these roles are able to have on CS instructional systems. Findings also surfaced ways that district actors dealt with a number of tensions associated with student leadership within CS instructional systems. This study provides educators, administrators, and researchers with an expansive view of the potential for students to play legitimate roles within the context of system-wide instructional efforts around CS, and aims to expand conceptions of ‘equitable computer science’—up to this point largely conceived of through the lenses of access to, participation in, and experiences of CS learning—to focus on equity as also being about who has ‘a seat at the table’ when it comes to CS.

I-LEARN: A Model for Creating Knowledge in the Information Age

The I-LEARN Model—I dentify, L ocate, E valuate, A pply, R eflect, kN ow— both describes the process of learning with information and provides a learning sequence that children and youth can be taught. Grounded in research and theory from information science and instructional systems design, it is also based on the author’ s own research and writing. This theoretical model reflects an inquiry approach to learning and builds on the three-part information-literacy paradigm that underlies many instructional activities conducted in library media centers: accessing, evaluating, and using information. It expands that paradigm to focus specifically on the use of information as a tool for learning.

Instructional Leadership

While principals are ultimately accountable for instructional leadership, they also are burdened by the increasing demands of the administrative job and, therefore, must rely on the capable teaching professionals to help carry out the instructional mission of the school. Indicators of instructional leadership for teacher leaders include coaching and mentoring, collaboration, and understanding the context of school and community. This chapter addresses the constructs of instructional leadership, including 1) understanding effective instructional practices, 2) alignment of school-wide instructional systems, 3) use of data to improve instruction, 4) the fostering of collective continuous improvement, and 5) inclusion of collaborative professional development for school personnel to build professional capacity and leadership in all. The intersection between principal and teacher leader roles, as a premise for distributive leadership, will be explored and proposed with recommendations for future research.