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February 25, 2021Mount St. Mary Catholic High School earns College Board AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award
Mount Saint Mary Catholic High School in Oklahoma City has earned the College Board AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award for achieving high female representation in AP computer science principles. Schools honored with the AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award have expanded girls’ access in AP computer science courses.
Out of the 20,000 institutions that offer AP courses, 1,119 achieved either 50 percent or higher female representation in one of the two AP computer science courses or a percentage of the female computer science examinees meeting or exceeding that of the school’s female population during the 2019-2020 school year. That’s nearly 37 percent more than the 818 schools recognized this past year. In 2020, Mount Saint Mary was one of 831 recognized in the category of AP computer science principles.
The first year of AP computer science principles in 2016-2017 attracted more students than any other AP course debut, and participation is on the rise. In 2020, more than 116,000 students took the AP CSP exam – more than double the number of exam takers in the course’s first year, and a 21 percent increase over the previous year. In 2020, 39,570 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 drive innovation, creativity and representation. The median annual wage for computer and information technology occupations was $88,240 in May 2019. However, a code.org analysis of 2017 Bureau of Labor Statistics data found women represent just 24 percent of the five million people in computing occupations.
According to new College Board research about AP CSP, 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 similar female students who did not take CSP. The study also found AP CSP students are nearly twice as likely to enroll in AP CSA, and that for most students, AP CSP serves as a stepping-stone to other advanced AP STEM coursework.
These findings make it all the more imperative that schools nationwide achieve gender parity in AP computer science classrooms. The 1,119 schools that receive this year’s AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award should serve as inspirations and models for all American high schools, where overall, female students remain under-represented in computer science classes, comprising just 34 percent of AP computer science principles participants. Currently, less than half of the nation’s high schools teach foundational computer science.
The Mount offers computer science classes such as computer science principals, video
productions, robotics and CAD. With the success and growth of these programs, school administrators have seen numerous female alumnae begin programs in college such as engineering, video productions and programing.