With the statistics pointing overwhelmingly to a dire need for STEM-trained students to graduate into the US workforce, the question remains: How do educators break down the barriers that can prevent some perfectly capable students from enrolling in STEM courses?  On the Citizen IBM blog, AP Computer Science teacher Seth Reichelson offers up some answers based on his own experience.  Among his suggestions: “[make] computer science more accessible and rewarding” by using mastery learning, and communicating directly with parents when a student gets a bad grade.  By building confidence and taking some common-sense approaches to communicating, “everybody wins,” Reichelson says.