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This study aims to examine the current experiences of high school students in computer science (CS) courses and the factors that motivated them to continue their future enrollment. The participants were 603 high school students in grades 9 through 12 in Indiana, all of whom enrolled in at least one CS course during the 2020-2021 academic year. This research revealed that fun and meaningful CS pedagogy, knowledgeable CS teachers, and relevance to their lives and future careers enabled high school students to hold positive experiences in their CS classes. These experiences impacted students to take additional CS courses. In addition to these positive experiences, gender and early exposure to CS emerge as predictors to pursue CS courses. The findings will carry significance for policymakers and educators offering insights to enhance and broaden students’ participation and engagement in the CS course. 

Although it is well known that Black women are underrepresented in computing, less is known about their pre-college experiences. We hypothesize that inequities at the K-12 level result in Black women's underrepresentation in computing, because Black women have accumulated less social capital and are less embedded in courses and organizations related to computing prior to college. This paper reports the initial findings from the first round of a survey designed to gather the pre-college computing experiences of Black women and their peers. Black women in our sample were less likely to report participating in formal computer science (CS) education in school, slightly more likely to report participation in outside-of-school computing programs, about equally as likely to pursue computing experiences independently, and more likely to have had no pre-college computing experiences at all. We found that Black women were less likely to report that they were told they would be a good computer scientist, especially by friends, teachers, and guidance counselors, thus reflecting weaker social connections and lower levels of social capital. These findings suggest that organizational embeddedness or social ties from pre-college computing experiences may indeed be a factor in Black women's underrepresentation in computing and that access to these experiences outside of the formal classroom may be particularly important. The survey is one part of a study that will feature a second round of data collection in another state, analysis of state-level longitudinal data, and interviews with Black women.