TAH Participating Teacher Protocol

TEACHING AMERICAN HISTORY EVALUATION

SUMMER 2009 SITE VISITS

Participating Teacher Protocol

A. Teaching Background

1. Please indicate how many American history courses you teach and in what grades. If you are an elementary school teacher, please indicate the segments or themes of US history you teach.

Name of School:
Course	Grade level(s) Indicate if honors, AP, special ed, etc.

2. How long have you been teaching?

 0-2 years  3-5 years  6-10 years  over 10 years

3. How long have you been teaching American history?

 0-2 years  3-5 years  6-10 years  over 10 years

4. Do you have a degree in education? If so, please indicate for what level (e.g., elementary, secondary)?

5. Do you have a degree in history (e.g. a non-education degree)  yes  no

6. Do you have a degree specifically in history education?  yes  no

If no, please describe your degree:

7. What is your highest level of education?

 less than 4-year degree  4-year degree  some graduate courses  Master’s degree or

higher

8. How many college courses have you ever taken related to teaching American history and/or American history content? Please describe.

9. Besides this Teaching American History grant project, have you ever received any other significant in-service training in teaching American history? Briefly describe each training activity/course and the approximate number of hours you participated. (Note: Teachers will be informed in advance that we will request this information.)

B. About Your School

10. Can you tell me a little about the classes you teach? How many are AP or honors classes? Do you teach any classes tailored for English language learners? How many classes include special education/special needs students?

11. How are students graded and assessed in American History in your school (state standardized test, district standardized test, school-wide standardized tests, teacher-created tests, projects)?

12. Does your state or district have American history content standards? If so, how do you use the standards as you plan your curriculum?

13. Has the time allotted to teach American history changed significantly in recent years? Do you have difficulty completing the entire course of history in the time allotted?

14. Please describe the history resources you use in the classroom, including textbooks and online resources.

C. Participation in the Teaching American History Grant Program

15. Tell us about your participation in the Teaching American History program.

a. How did you become involved in the Teaching American History program? How long have you participated in this project overall (semesters, years)?

b. Was your participation required or voluntary?  required  voluntary

c. If your participation is voluntary, what were your most important reasons for choosing to participate in the Teaching American History program? Please rank order the top 3 reasons below:

____earn in-service credits

____earn college credits

____improve your knowledge of American history content

____improve your methods of teaching American history

____change or create new lesson plans

____learn from colleagues

____earn other incentives (e.g. extra pay, travel)

____other (please describe)

d. Who participates in the activities with you (i.e., other teachers from your school, teachers in other schools in your district, teachers from other districts)? Do you participate in groups only with teachers at your grade level or with teachers of multiple grade levels? How are your school administrators involved?

16. Please describe briefly the activities in which you have participated.

Activity	Year and # sessions/hours you participated	Brief description of activity or type of participation
Summer institute
Multi-session workshops with follow up
Single session workshops, seminars, field trips
Lesson planning or project related to classroom teaching
Observation and feedback of my teaching
Review of my lesson plans
Participation in network among historical research experts
Action research team related to historical topic
Online research
Document based analysis
Analysis of historic photographs, music, art, and other artifacts.
Other

D. Usefulness of the Activities

17. Overall how would you rate the relevancy and quality of the activities in which you participated—would you rate them as generally high, medium or low? Can you give examples of activities that you would rate particularly highly and explain why? Can you give examples of activities that you would rate less highly and explain why?

18. Are there things you wished had been covered in the program that weren’t? Were there things that were not emphasized enough?

19. How often do you use the skills you learned from the TAH program in your classroom(s)? Please describe in more detail how you use what you learned. Also, please discuss any materials/technology you were provided by the TAH program and whether and how you use them in your classroom.

20. Do you have any plans for upcoming implementation of what you’ve learned recently in the TAH Program? If so, please describe. When do you think you might implement this?

21. Have there been any school-level activities such as teacher collaboration, team teaching, curriculum planning, or mentoring associated with your participation in the TAH program? Have you shared your knowledge with other colleagues who have not participated in the TAH program? Please describe in more detail.

E. Teacher and Student Outcomes of Your Participation

22. The U.S. Department of Education is interested in learning about the outcomes of participation in TAH projects. The list below contains some potential outcomes of some TAH projects. Can you rate the extent to which these have been outcomes of your participation in your TAH project? (Probe for stories or examples when very low or high ratings are given.)

	Not at all				To a great extent
a. Expanded your knowledge base in American history	1	2	3	4	5
b. Increased your knowledge of local history	1	2	3	4	5
c. Increased your historical thinking skills	1	2	3	4	5
d. Changed the overall instructional methods you use to teach history	1	2	3	4	5
e. Provided you with approaches to encourage critical thinking in history among your students	1	2	3	4	5
f. Helped you learn ways to integrate primary source materials into your classroom	1	2	3	4	5
g. Increased integration of technology into your instruction	1	2	3	4	5
h. Gave you a chance to learn about best practices from colleagues	1	2	3	4	5
i. Helped you develop better lesson plans/curriculum	1	2	3	4	5
j. Helped you modify your instruction for individual student needs (e.g., English language learners, special needs or more advanced students)	1	2	3	4	5
k. Provided you with feedback on your teaching practices	1	2	3	4	5
l. Helped students improve their success on state/district assessments	1	2	3	4	5

23. Please list any other observed positive outcomes of your participation in the TAH activities that we haven’t mentioned.

24. (If not already mentioned.) Are there any other outcomes or changes that have resulted from the TAH project at the school level-- among all teachers or all history teachers school-wide? How about within your district --e.g., district-wide use of TAH project developed web-site or lesson plans, or curriculum changes?

F. Assessment of Teacher Learning

(These questions will be asked if time allows.)

25. a. How is your learning under the TAH grant assessed?

____standardized pre- and post-test of historical knowledge

____teacher survey (pre and post?)

____teacher interviews or focus groups

____changes in student standardized test scores

____classroom observations by history specialists

____review of lesson plans

____don’t know

____other (describe)

b. Do you have suggestions for other ways TAH programs could assess teacher

learning of historical content and teaching methods?

G. Reflection and Wrap-Up

(This question will be asked if time allows.)

26. Is there anything else we should know to better understand your experience with the Teaching American History Program?

H. Questions on Standardized History Assessments

(Note: These questions will be asked only of teachers in states or districts that use standardized American history tests.)

27. To what extent has the TAH program equipped you with knowledge and skills to help your students do better on standardized American history tests? Why or why not?

28. In your opinion how well does the standardized American history test measure the content and skills you cover in your American history curriculum? Is the test aligned to your curriculum? Are there content areas and skills you teach that are not assessed or only partially assessed by the test?

29. Do you use results from standardized American History tests to improve your teaching practice? If so, in what ways? To what extent do you design your instructional approach specifically to help your students achieve higher scores on standardized tests?

Thank you for your participation!

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