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Google diversity: Will the tech giant get it right?

As the first tech company to announce its diversity statistics in May of 2014, Google admits to poor numbers again in 2015. A whopping 70 percent of Google’s workforce in 2014 was male, while just 3 percent of its U.S. staff was Hispanic and only 2 percent were Black. Google diversity, or lack thereof, is just a small sampling of the industry as a whole, though. For 2015, overall gender Google diversity by in large remained the same. However, there was slight improvement with a 1 percent increase in the number of women in tech positions. There was also a slim …

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Closing the computer science gender gap: How one woman is making a difference in many lives

**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.** Maria Klawe, Harvey Mudd College   I’ve been passionate about increasing women’s participation in computer science for more than 25 years. While the number of undergraduate women pursuing some STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) fields like biology and chemistry has steadily increased over the past couple of decades, women’s participation in computer science (CS) has actually been declining. …

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Do gifted education programs encourage social inequality?

“Gifted” is the term used by psychologists and educators to designate children with extraordinary academic abilities. Giftedness has typically been associated with having high IQ scores. Gifted education programs are loosely defined as being “above the norm.” So, gifted students are those who, compared to their age group, score above average. Gifted education programs have also traditionally been hubs for white children from middle to high classes to flourish. Discrepancies in how schools define giftedness only serve to further the sense of inequality. Continuing socioeconomic inequities, such as; class, race, disabilities and gender, have had an impact on which students …

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