10 Auditing Your Digital Racial Literacy Practice

Chapter Overview

This chapter builds on Chapters 8 and 9 by providing resources for computer science (CS) teachers to examine their CS education (CS Ed) practices through the lens of digital racial literacy. The chapter applies the Racial Encounter Coping Appraisal Socialization Theory (RECAST) framework for racial literacy by offering guidance for educators to complete audits of their CS classroom practice and specific CS lesson plans or activities. This chapter is intentionally written for self-reflective practice in community with others. It is highly recommended that the chapter is read and discussed individually and with colleagues or critical friends to pause, reflect, and identify steps to take action.

Chapter Objectives

After reading this chapter, I can:

• Complete audits of my classroom practice and CS units, lessons, and activities to evaluate how I incorporate digital racial literacy into my CS instruction.

Key Terms:

audit; digital racial literacy; racial-ethnic; RECAST framework; social-emotional learning; therapeutic practices

Your Story

This chapter builds on Chapters 8 and 9 to give you a chance to apply what you’ve learned as you audit your CS practices and CS curriculum through the lens of digital racial literacy, or the process of developing awareness of the relationships between race and technology, managing emotions connected to racism in tech, and critiquing and using technology to disrupt inequity. Let’s begin with a reflection. As we begin, we invite you to apply the different strategies you’ve been learning about to navigate stressors that might emerge related to developing digital racial literacy (see Table 2 in Chapter 9). Remember that it is important to pause and okay to sit with discomfort. As you practice these strategies yourself, you’ll be better prepared to support your students in their own journeys.

Now that you have been introduced to frameworks and techniques to strengthen your knowledge of digital racial literacy in the CS classroom, this chapter offers two tools to evaluate your current practice: a general digital racial literacy classroom practice audit and an audit to evaluate digital racial literacy within a specific lesson or activity.

CS Digital Racial Literacy Classroom Practice Audit

When most people hear the word “audit,” fear strikes. However, auditing, or systematically reviewing your CS curriculum and instructional practices, can be a valuable way to assess where you are and where you need to grow. Auditing might include analyzing your lesson plans to consider how they incorporate social equity issues and your students’ identities and lived experiences. It might also involve examining your stress and emotional responses to equity issues that may arise in your classroom and taking steps to manage these emotions healthily.

Technology impacts every aspect of our lives, but the field has been plagued with issues of underrepresentation and bias, particularly against racial-ethnic minoritized groups.^[1] For this reason, teachers can promote equity and inclusion by developing students’ digital racial literacy in CS classrooms by focusing on the areas of:

• technology;
• representation;
• access and workforce development; and
• justice, advocacy, and empowerment.

Chapter 8 unpacks these four areas in greater detail. Audits of how we consider these areas in our CS curricula allow us to address systemic barriers that have prevented racial-ethnic minoritized groups from fully participating in the field of CS. For instance, representation in CS has historically been limited to a small group of people, leading to a lack of diversity in mainstream technology development (see Chapters 2 and 3). Access and workforce development determine who has the opportunity to enter into and succeed in the field. Promoting justice, advocacy, and empowerment helps address the power dynamics often at play in technology development and usage. Exploring and engaging in discussions about these topics with students can promote more equitable CS learning.

The Classroom Practice Audit tool below (Tables 1a-c; Talley, 2022) can be used to assess your efforts in promoting equity and inclusion in your CS spaces. Drawing on the RECAST framework introduced in Chapter 9 (Stevenson, 2014), the tool is divided into the three parts of the framework: READ, RECAST, and RESOLVE. The audit builds on Stevenson’s framework by applying it specifically to developing digital racial literacy. The READ section focuses on awareness and knowledge of issues related to racial-ethnic minoritized people in CS. The RECAST section addresses emotional management and therapeutic practices for students related to racism in tech, and the RESOLVE section focuses on social action and understanding to disrupt racial inequity in tech. Teachers can use the questions provided in each category to reflect on their efforts in promoting equity and inclusion in CS and identify areas for improvement.

Digital Racial Literacy Classroom Practice Audit Tool

Table 1a
READ (Awareness): Knowledge of Racial Issues in CS

Focal Area	Audit Question
Technology	Do I make my students aware of systemic algorithm bias and its impact on marginalized communities?
Representation	Do I inform my students of CS and STEM trailblazers from racial-ethnic minoritized groups? Do my CS examples and projects offer representations of these trailblazers?
Access and Workforce Development	How do I increase my students’ awareness of opportunities and racial disparities in the tech workforce?
Justice, Advocacy, and Empowerment	Do my CS projects reflect the implications of implementing this technology for racial-ethnic minoritized people?

Table 1b
RECAST (Emotional Management): Social-Emotional Learning and Therapeutic Practices

Focal Area	Audit Question
Technology	Are my students guided to express their emotions and beliefs about algorithmic bias and racial injustice mediated by CS?
Representation	How can I allow my students to process their emotions related to the disparities in representation in tech and CS?
Access and Workforce Development	Have I attended to students’ emotions and hope about entering the tech workforce? Have I prepared my students for possible racial bias in tech roles? Have I checked with my racial-ethnic minoritized students about their feelings of belongingness?
Justice, Advocacy, and Empowerment	Have I facilitated opportunities for sharing and emotional development?

Table 1c
RESOLVE (Action): Social Action and Understanding

Focal Area	Audit Question
Technology	Do my students have an understanding of the processes by which racial bias enters CS products?
Representation	Have I created space to allow my students to engage in meaningful discussions and take action against racial bias in technology?
Access and Workforce Development	What pathways have I created for students to pursue opportunities in tech, considering and addressing racial disparities?
Justice, Advocacy, and Empowerment	How have I helped my students leverage CS to create positive social change? Have I created opportunities for my students to organize and mobilize on their own?

By applying the READ-RECAST-RESOLVE framework to CS pedagogy, classroom management, and ethics, CS teachers can work toward creating more equitable and inclusive learning environments for all students. This requires a commitment to ongoing self-reflection, learning, and action, as well as a willingness to engage in difficult conversations and challenge systemic inequalities inside and outside the classroom.

CS Digital Racial Literacy Unit Plan, Lesson Plan, or Activity Audit

Similar to the above Classroom Audit, the CS Digital Racial Literacy Unit Plan, Lesson Plan, or Activity Audit (Table 2; Talley, 2022) is a reflective journey that empowers you to critically assess and enhance the social impact of your CS lessons. Again applying the RECAST framework (Stevenson, 2014) to digital racial literacy development, this activity invites you to revisit one of your favorite lesson plans focusing on the domains of READ, RECAST, and RESOLVE.

In the READ section, examine how your lesson plan incorporates a relevant social issue to contextualize your CS lesson within social equity in the real world. Consider whether you have invited your students to be critical thinkers by analyzing how the CS concept at hand can shape possibilities and contribute to inequities. Take a moment to reflect on how your students’ lived experiences and identities might influence their interpretation of the technology or CS assignment.

In the RECAST section, assess whether you have integrated relevant social, emotional, and coping skills into your lesson to model stress management and promote digital racial literacy among your students. Explore how you have examined your own stress about social equity issues that may surface during the CS lesson, recognizing the importance of creating a supportive learning environment.

Finally, in the RESOLVE section, consider whether you have asked your students to develop a social action response or plan to address the real-world implications of the technology and social inequity discussed in your lesson. Evaluate whether you have equipped your students with concrete sociopolitical knowledge or skills, like as digital organizing or Freedom of Information Act requests, to operationalize and address their social equity concerns through a CS project.

Throughout your audit, consider how you might scaffold students’ abilities to engage with these topics by incorporating elements of social-emotional learning (SEL), including the therapeutic practices introduced in Chapter 9.

Table 2
Racial Literacy Unit Plan, Lesson Plan, or Activity Audit

Domain	Prompt	SEL or Therapeutic Lesson Element to Support Students
READ	I have incorporated a relevant social issue to contextualize my CS lesson and connect it to equity in the real world.
	I have exposed my students to or have invited them to be critical of how this CS concept can shape possibility and inequity.
	I have considered how my students’ lived experiences and identities shape their interpretation of this technology/ CS assignment.
RECAST	I have incorporated relevant social, emotional, and coping skills to model stress management and digital racial literacy with my students.
	I examined my stress about the social equity issues that may surface during my CS lesson.
RESOLVE	I have asked my students to develop a social action response/plan to address or further explore the real-world implications of this technology and social inequity.
	I gave my students concrete socio-political knowledge or skills to address their social equity concerns through a CS project.

This audit is an opportunity for growth and refinement, aiming to elevate the social impact of your CS lessons. Embrace the chance to make your lessons more inclusive, relevant, and empowering for your students. Let’s embark on this journey of self-reflection and improvement together.

Considerations for Auditing Your Practice

Many CS educators have audited their practice in their efforts to increase opportunities to develop digital racial literacy in their CS instruction. Here we share some considerations based on their experiences.

First, when completing the audit process, it is important to give yourself enough time and space to complete the task. This includes taking care of yourself and managing your own racial stress that may arise as part of the process. The therapeutic techniques in Chapter 9 can support you in this. CS educator Jami recommended:

Remember that making equity-oriented change is an ongoing process. It is okay to make small changes as part of a consistent effort to improve. CS educator Brandie acknowledged some of the challenges that might arise in planning changes based on the results of your audit:

It can be important to find a balance between developing digital racial literacy well and still ensuring that standards and objectives are met. Similarly, Brandie noted that “talking about issues of race and equity are and can be heavy.” Jami added that it’s important to balance engaging students with these important issues but also “center joy and the accomplishments of marginalized communities.”

Second, while completing your audit, it is important to remember your students and consider their identities, needs, and backgrounds. Brandie and Jami shared that their students experienced lessons focused on digital racial literacy in different ways. Brandie teaches at a predominately white school:

Jami faces a different but related challenge. Her school is predominantly Latine.^[2] She noted:

As you consider changes to make based on your audits, consider what supports different students in your class might need and how you can make your instruction relevant to students with different experiences and backgrounds. While Brandie and Jami acknowledged that this process was challenging, they both emphasized the importance of preparing to engage students about these topics.

Finally, it may seem daunting to seek to develop digital racial literacy due to concerns about how students will respond. Some educators, especially those who teach elementary grades, may feel that students are too young to engage with these topics. While how you engage students and the supports you provide may differ based on students’ ages, it is possible. Brandie described her fifth grade students’ reactions to lessons that developed digital racial literacy:

Ethan, a middle school CS teacher, shared similar responses from his older students:

Students come to the classroom with a familiarity with technology, an awareness of inequity, and many feelings and questions. Providing students with support to develop digital racial literacy in connection with technology and opportunities to take action is an essential part of becoming an equity-oriented CS educator.

Revisiting Your Story

Now that you’ve completed the audits, take a moment to reflect on the insights you gained from the process and the changes and enhancements you envision for your teaching.

As a CS educator, you are at the front lines of CS Ed and workforce development. Your knowledge of the sociocultural landscape of CS is integral to your students’ development. Digital racial literacy frameworks are critical because they offer practical guidance on identifying and addressing social equity issues in real-world contexts. Without digital racial literacy, we risk perpetuating and exacerbating social inequities in CS Ed and the tech workforce.

The consequences of not engaging in digital racial literacy in CS classrooms are vast and dire. Ignoring the intersection of race and technology may inadvertently perpetuate harmful stereotypes or allow implicit bias to go unchecked. However, with a concerted effort to recognize and challenge structural inequalities in CS, you can avoid excluding and marginalizing students in your classroom.

We must be intentional in our approaches to teaching CS. This means incorporating relevant social issues and critical discussions of real-world racial bias in tech into our curriculum. It also includes ensuring that our examples and projects reflect the implications of implementing technology for racial-ethnic minoritized communities. We can prioritize offering our students concrete civic and sociopolitical knowledge and skills that they can use to operationalize and address their social equity concerns through CS projects.

As educators, we must be willing to examine our own biases and assumptions, as well as our racial identity development and life course racial socialization messages. We can only effectively teach our students digital racial literacy if we actively engage in it ourselves. We must also be willing to listen to our students’ experiences and perspectives, recognizing how their identities shape their understanding of and experiences in the world.

Ultimately, engaging in digital racial literacy in your CS classroom is crucial for advancing equity and inclusion in tech and preparing your students to be informed and responsible citizens in an increasingly diverse and complex world. By prioritizing digital racial literacy in your practice, you help create a more just and equitable society that recognizes and values the unique contributions of all individuals of various racial and ethnic backgrounds. Ultimately, advancing equity in CS requires ongoing learning, growth, and action. We can create a more inclusive and equitable future for all by continuing to develop our digital racial literacy practice.

Reflection Questions:

1. Have you ever completed an audit before? If so, what were the benefits? If not, how do you think auditing your practice can help you become a more equity-oriented CS educator?
2. How might you be able to connect what you’ve noticed about your practice and what you’ve learned from this chapter to the equity commitments you set in Chapter 6?

Takeaways for Practice:

• Use the tools in this chapter to complete an audit of digital racial literacy in your CS education context. Consider how you might create a plan to set goals to improve, check in on your progress, and re-audit your practices periodically.

Glossary

Term	Definition
audit	A process of systematically reviewing your curriculum and instructional practices to assess where you are and where you can grow.
digital racial literacy	Fostering digital racial literacy in CS Ed involves: 1. developing students’ awareness of the role of human bias in shaping algorithmic bias and the ways in which racially marginalized communities are represented in and threatened by current and existing technologies 2. preparing students and colleagues to manage the emotions they will face as they interact with CS products and possible workplace experiences that embed racism 3. empowering students to critique the impact of technologies on their communities and in their daily lives and empowering students to use technology to disrupt systems of oppression and galvanize their communities.
racial-ethnic	This term recognizes race and ethnicity as social constructions. Both race and ethnicity — and the conflicts that emerge related to them — are relevant to issues of inquiry in CS and CS Ed. This term captures how both constructs need to be considered as part of developing digital racial literacy.
RECAST framework	The Racial Encounter Coping Appraisal Socialization Theory or RECAST framework offers support to address racial stress and trauma and discuss racial topics in the classroom. The RECAST framework has three parts: READ or becoming aware of racial stress and trauma RECAST or managing and coping with racial stress RESOLVE or taking action against the root causes of racial tension.
social-emotional learning	Learning skills and behaviors needed to develop healthy identities, manage emotions, and maintain healthy and supportive relationships (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, n.d.).
therapeutic practices	Practices that can improve quality of life by addressing and helping to manage and resolve discomfort, emotional distress, pain, or stress.

References

Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (n.d.). What is the CASEL Framework? https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/what-is-the-casel-framework/

Stevenson, H. (2014). Promoting racial literacy in schools: Differences that make a difference. Teachers College Press.

Talley, L. M. (2022). Exploring equity in computer science pilot series (EECS Pilot): Program plan and curriculum. New York City Department of Education. https://sites.google.com/schools.nyc.gov/cs4all-equity/eecs/eecs