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The American Institutes for Research® (AIR®) partnered with Girls Who Code (GWC) to conduct an independent study evaluating the effectiveness of two GWC summer virtual programs, the Summer Immersion Program (SIP) and the Self-Paced Program (SPP), on promoting the pursuit of Computer Science (CS)-related postsecondary education for high school female and non-binary students. Employing a quasi-experimental design with inverse propensity score weighting technique, this study compared SIP and SPP participants with similar students who were waitlisted on the likelihood of majoring in a CS-related field. By analyzing publicly available National Student Clearinghouse data and GWC program records for the years 2020--2022, the study yielded two key findings. First, on average, both SIP and SPP participants were significantly more likely to major in a CS-related field (by 13.2 percentage points and 11.5 percentage points, respectively) than comparison students. Second, both SIP and SPP consistently demonstrated positive effects on majoring in a CS-related field across most of the student groups examined, including White, Black or African American, and Hispanic or Latinx students; students who are historically underrepresented in computing; and students with little to no prior CS knowledge. To enhance program outcomes, the study proposed to recommendations: (a) exploring supplementary feedback mechanisms to gather insights from participants, including program exit interviews, focus groups and long-term alumni surveys; and (b) establishing a comprehensive evaluation system to track the program's impact on various outcomes by including additional mid-term outcomes, such as enrollment in CS-related Advanced Placement courses and successful completion of these courses. This paper includes appendices detailing the technical aspects of the study and additional findings from In-Person SIP summer programs and a pilot program previously implemented by GWC before the introduction of the virtual programs.

In the largest U.S. metropolitan areas, suburban school districts enroll 14.4 million students, far more than the 6 million students enrolled in the same metros' urban districts. In fact, students enrolled in the suburban school districts surrounding the 25 largest metropolitan areas represent roughly 30% of the nation's entire public school enrollment. Suburban growth has occurred alongside the creation of a segregated, metropolitan society through policy, law and practice. Discriminatory loan practices, federal highway construction, site selection for subsidized housing and exclusionary zoning are examples of how racial discrimination permeated to origins suburban society. State and federal governments are dominated politically by those representing suburban constituents too often eager to maintain an exclusionary status quo. As shifting populations change suburban school enrollment, education policy trends formerly confined to urban districts have spread to suburban ones. Many suburban school districts have experienced growth in the charter school sector, as well as a rash of school closures. Suburban schools and districts reflect broader societal problems, paradigms, and possibilities. This paper draws on federal enrollment data from the nation's largest 25 metros from 2011-2020 to descriptively analyze suburban school enrollment and segregation at the school district-level, seeking to understand different district contexts and their relationship to student segregation.