Computer Science (CS) equity initiatives in high schools are becoming more common, yet evaluating their success and establishing sustainability remain challenging due to the lack of standardized assessment tools. Accurate evaluations of interventions rely on data, which requires asking the right questions and using the appropriate metrics.

There are numerous tools available to measure students’ experiences in schools. However, these tools are designed for general education and may not ask “the right questions” to best evaluate the experience of Computer Science education. This study addresses the gap by using the Experience lens of the widely-used CAPE framework (including Capacity, Access, Participation, and Experience) developed by Fletcher et al.

Together with educators who are part of a Researcher-Practitioner Partnership addressing equity in high school computer science programs, we developed a collection of survey questions adapted from existing generic surveys. Our findings reveal the importance of well-designed surveys in evaluating CS education.

The developed survey tool shows potential in capturing nuanced data about students’ experiences in CS programs, which generic educational surveys may overlook. By providing a specialized set of questions for evaluating equity through the Experience lens of the CAPE framework, this study contributes to the broader goal of improving CS equity in high schools.