News

Congratulations to Dr. Fran Trees for receiving a $4 million dollar Education Innovation Research (EIR) award in collaboration with Dr. Cynthia Blitz from Rutgers Graduate School of Education’s Center for Effective School Practices (CESP). The grant is one of only 28 awards nationwide and the only award to a recipient from New Jersey.

The “Extending the Computer Science Pipeline” project will support efforts to broaden participation of high-needs students in STEM education – specifically with a computer science focus – through Technical Assistance (TA) for middle school educators in grades 5-8. Over the course of the grant period, the team will refine and implement a computer science TA Framework that involves tailored, purposeful TA to build capacity of middle school educators, as well as enhance educator engagement and collaboration through a researcher-practitioner partnership.

This project will continue the successful and sustained partnership between Dr. Trees and the CS Department with Dr. Blitz and the Graduate School of Education to broaden participation of underrepresented students in STEM by increasing their access to and engagement with rigorous and relevant computer science education to subsequently increase interest, self-efficacy, and achievement.