The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) recently issued its annual Girls in IT: The Facts report, sponsored by NCWIT's K-12 Alliance -- a vital contribution to and summary of the work to ensure equal access to professional training, market-focused production, and commercial ownership of IT.

I recommend that all of us engaged in K-12 education read and absorb the report's findings...and then act upon them.

Here are a few of the many important highlights:

• “Girls comprise 56% of all Advanced Placement (AP) test-takers, 46% of all AP Calculus test-takers, BUT ONLY 19% of AP Computer Science test-takers.” (pg. 1)
• “A wealth of research in the past decade shows that diversity improves problem-solving, productivity, innovation, and ultimately, the bottom line.” (pg. 2) “A wealth of broader educational research rooted in constructivist, constructionist, and culturally relevant learning theories has long emphasized the importance of connecting instruction to students' interest and prior knowledge and of using active and collaborative learning pedagogies.” (pg. 18)
• "...evidence also suggests that the [video] games targeted to male audiences more commonly allow users to make programmatic modifications (or 'modding') and other kinds of computational interactions, which more directly develop actual computing or programming skills." (pg. 29)
• "African American and Hispanic girls expressed greater interest in CS and IT than White girls...[Referring to a 2012 study by the Girl Scout Research Institute]" (pg. 32)
• "Focus on fluency--the ability to understand concepts that transfer across multiple situations." (pg. 48)
• "Use pair programming and other types of collaborative, group work...Pay attention to the physical environment of the classroom...Provide frequent, reliable feedback." (pg. 50)

To download the report and summaries, click Girls IT Facts.

Please also see information on promoting interest for young women in Computer Science and helpful resources on Computer Science Online.

Daniel Rabuzzi is Executive Director at Mouse.