confidentiality statement

 

 

Teaching American History Evaluation

Purpose

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s (“the Department”) Policy and Program Studies Service (PPSS), the Teaching American History (TAH) Evaluation, is a four-year study of how the professional development provided to teachers through the TAH grants have impacted teachers’ content knowledge and student achievement based on standardized assessments.

This study is being conducted by Berkeley Policy Associates (BPA) and SRI International (SRI). During the summer and fall of 2009, BPA and SRI staff will be interviewing project directors, training providers, teachers, and other relevant staff from selected TAH grantees as part of this study. We will ask questions about how the project was planned and developed, relationships among partnering organizations, quality of the professional development activities conducted through the TAH grant, participant’s perceptions about impact of the grant on their content knowledge and student achievement, and participant recommendations for program improvement. The interviews are intended to provide information about the overall program and not to evaluate individuals or individual performance.

Confidentiality and Anonymity

We will treat the information you supply in a confidential manner. Only selected evaluation staff will have access to your actual interview responses. You will never be identified by name in any report to the public or the Department of Education, but you may be identified by title, e.g. Grade 8 Social Studies teacher.

As part of the evaluation, the SRI team will be sharing its findings with the U.S. Department of Education. The results of the study will describe the strengths as well as areas for improvement in the TAH grant program. Findings submitted to the Department will describe the progress made and the difficulties encountered during the course of implementing these TAH grants. Reports released to the public will always use pseudonyms when referring to TAH grantees, schools, and districts.

Risks and Discomfort

There are no significant risks related to participation in this study. Participation in the study by teachers and training providers is voluntary.

Benefits

Your participation will contribute to the first rigorous study of the TAH Grants Program that focuses on the relationship between program practices and program outcomes and may inform future improvements in professional development approaches for American history teachers.

More Information

For more information about this study, you may contact Dr. Phyllis Weinstock at BPA at (510) 465-7884 Ext. 221 or Dr. Daniel Humphrey at SRI (650) 859-4014.

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency is not allowed to collect information unless it displays a valid OMB control number and no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is xxxx-xxxx.  The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average one hour for teachers and training providers, and three hours for project directors, including the time to review instructions, search existing data resources, gather the data needed, and complete and review the information collection.  If you have any comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimates or suggestions for improving this form, please write to:  U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C. 20202-4651.  If you have comments or concerns regarding the status of your individual submission of this form, write directly to:  [insert program sponsor/office], U.S. Department of Education, 600 Independence Avenue, S.W., [insert building/room number], Washington, D.C. 20202-xxxx.