OAKLAND, Calif. — The lab starts to fill up after classes finish. The students are arriving little by little. They have a snack (today it’s tacos) and chat animatedly with their friends. They laugh and joke around, listening to Beyoncé and Rihanna on the built-in speakers. Soon, employees of one of the world’s most influential companies will arrive to teach these students about computer science: how to program computer games, how to work with data, and how to start and run a business.
Code Next is a free after-school program designed to make technology more accessible to students of color, many of whom lack opportunities to explore STEM fields in middle and high school. That affects the pathways students choose through college: A smaller proportion of black and Latino students earn degrees in a STEM field than in other degree programs, according to recent Pew research. study.
And that, in turn, affects people’s career options. Code Next was launched by Google in 2016 in response to the stubbornly low number of people of color working in technology, only 3 percent of Google technology employees were Black or Latino in 2014.
Code Next helps students envision themselves working in a STEM field by providing hands-on training and exposure to the tools and strategies used by scientists and engineers. Teens come to the lab to develop their own projects under the tutelage of Google employees and Code Next academic coaches. Projects include creating animations, building statistical databases for favorite sports teams, and designing programs that can identify pneumonia in human lung scans. Some students have started businesses, while others have designed apps or built robots. Students work with hardware such as chips and single-board computers, as well as software, learning coding languages such as Java, Python, HTML and CSS, and C++.
In addition to this lab space, Code Next has campuses in New York and Michigan, and offers some of its programs remotely as well. Over the past seven years, the program has helped thousands of students feel more comfortable exploring science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. More than 90 percent of Code Next’s latest cohort of high school graduates went on to higher education, the vast majority in STEM fields, according to a Code Next survey.
It’s significant progress toward the goal of connecting more youth with educational and career opportunities in technology. Still, in a city where math test scores are lower than average, some parents say even well-resourced programs backed by tech industry titans will only make a limited difference without broader interventions.
“We see that advanced math courses are a great predictor of college success, but this is all critical,” said Lakisha Young, founder and CEO of The Oakland Reach, a parent-led advocacy group focused on better supporting low-income students of color in Oakland. “It’s like kids are already being eliminated in elementary school.”
Designing a belonging space
The Code Next lab occupies a retail store across from the Fruitvale metro station in East Oakland. It is a cultural center and one of the city’s. more diverse neighborhoods Half of the residents are Latino, 20 percent are Asian, Asian American, or Pacific Islander, 17 percent are Black, and 2 percent are Native American or Alaska Native. The area is lively, known for its incredible food and the annual Day of the Dead festival.
Fruitvale is also the scene of some of Oakland’s most painful recent memories. the 2016 ghost ship fire that claimed 36 lives occurred a few blocks from the Code Next lab. In 2009, at the metro station, the local traffic police shot 22-year-old Oscar Grant, an event many consider to have begun the Black Lives Matter movement. The area struggles with high unemployment, homelessness, and crime. is a place where one in five residents live below the poverty line.
Inside the lab, the noise of the subway, the hum of the highway, and the chatter of pedestrians fade away. The first thing visitors see when they enter is a digital screen announcing upcoming Code Next workshops and featuring the name, photo, and bio of a different Code Next student each week. Showcasing students is meant to convey to newcomers what is achievable, reminding them to dream big.
On one wall, 3D printers are stacked from floor to ceiling. Each of the machines is loaded with a different color. Some buzz and buzz while printing student projects. A wood engraving machine runs 24 hours a day in the weeks leading up to Christmas or Mother’s Day, according to community manager Melanie Kimes.
The signs point out unique and sustainable building materials. Exposed pipes and cables crisscross overhead, helping students see and understand the inner workings of the building. The lab was deliberately designed to support student learning, she explained her architectDanish Kurani, who mentioned that high ceilings in the workshop are supposed to encourage creativity, while lower ceilings above the classroom are supposed to increase focus.
“Code Next is a perfect example of how better spaces can create social justice,” Kurani said. “These students are falling in love with STEM and continuing with these subjects in college and into their careers. They didn’t have these opportunities before we built a dedicated space to generate that inspiration.”
The goal of sparking creativity influenced every design decision Kurani made. Details like reading nooks for quiet study or reflection, overhead lighting chosen to maximize focus, and even bookshelves lining the walls all contribute to a student’s Code Next experience.
“All the supplies, equipment and tools, everything is open and the children have access,” Kurani said. “It’s that kind of permissionless environment, where they can just grab it and do it, and I think that also helps them feel like this is their space.”
I hoped the students would feel like they belonged at Code Next, that the lab was a safe and supportive place for them to take risks and challenge themselves, one that was conveniently located in their neighborhood.
“Not only does it help with their confidence and sense of belonging, it also helps with their creativity, because when you can see all the tools at your disposal, then they are the most important thing,” said the architect.
The students surveyed echoed Kurani’s sentiment. According to a survey he conducted among young participants in the Oakland space, 87 percent reported that they feel more creative in the Code Next lab than in their regular classrooms. More than two-thirds of students reported feeling safer when in the Code Next lab.
That’s because Code Next strives to meet students where they are, rather than expecting everyone to have the same interests or level of experience as in most academic settings, said James Dominguez, an alumnus at Code Next who is now interning with the program while completing his bachelor’s degree in computer science at San Francisco State University, in an interview.
Dominguez said the experiences he had as a Code Next student are the reason he wants to be a software developer. The program helped him learn about the technology sector and form strong ties with other students interested in technology, he said. Since high school, he has interned at some of the largest tech companies in the country, in addition to his ongoing efforts to provide peer support to the next generation of Code Next students.
Who is not being cared for?
Code Next boasts an alumni success rate that any educational organization would be proud of. But some Oakland parents worry that it’s the kind of extracurricular activity that will never serve the majority of the city’s students.
In eighth grade, only 19 percent of Oakland Unified School District students were proficient in grade-level mathematics, compared to 29 percent of students statewide. In grade 11, it’s just 16 percent of Oakland students, substantially below the state figure of 27 percent. While Code Next classes aren’t necessarily based on traditional math, some parents wonder what’s in it for students for whom higher education may seem unattainable.
“Our schools strive to create kids who are proficient in grade level math,” said Young of The Oakland Reach. “When kids aren’t proficient in math, they’re not going to be connected to STEM in any systemic way in the long run.”
Oakland schools have made significant investments in computer science and engineering education. They received large donations from tech companies with the goal of diversifying the industry. Sales force updated all technology for the entire district, and Intel funded a computer’s science program at a district high school and a engineering program in another.
However, Young says many local advanced education offerings in STEM-related fields are inaccessible to most students who may start to struggle in math and may cancel out of a STEM education before they are old enough for these types of programs. .
“Children are deprived of these opportunities from an early age,” Young said. “And then when you get to a level where they could be a part of this amazing engineering program, it cuts off for them, because they didn’t take the appropriate level of math.”
She says she wishes more attention was paid to getting students up to grade level proficiency: “Math proficiency creates more fertile ground for kids to get interested in math and science.”
She believes that more academic interventions and tutoring for those who are struggling can get more students of color interested in advanced STEM, but most organizations seem to be looking for a flashier solution to the field’s diversity problem.
“People get involved in things they’re good at and avoid things they don’t know about,” Young said. “It’s not sexy to do this hard work, but we have to build competence and confidence so that our children are competent so they want to explore STEM careers.”
