Summer learning experience for girls in grades 7--9 boosts confidence and interest in computing careers

In 2015--16, San Francisco Unified School District (SF) piloted MyCS, a middle-years CS curriculum, in half of its middle schools. This unexpected launch naturally led to diverging curricula, and the summer after the pilot, SF's and MyCS's stewards convened for a week of feedback, PD, and planning. This paper highlights the curricular refinements, assessment results, and institutional changes that came from this curricular divergence and subsequent reconciliation. The data analyzed include teacher- and district-feedback, along with an analysis of over 3000 surveys from SF's pilot implementation. Though accidental, this experiment suggests that substantial benefits can come from independently co-evolving (branching) and then reconciling (merging) curricula. When merged, those otherwise independent branches create a community both stronger and more invested, in practice and in agency, for all MyCS stakeholders.