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Professional Development for Teachers of American History
In 2007 the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) undertook a three-year teacher professional development project called “Building Informed Citizens.”
A Teaching American History grant from the U.S. Department of Education enabled the district to offer this professional development project that aims to raise student achievement by increasing teachers’ knowledge and understanding of U.S. history.
This joint effort involves the MMSD, the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater, the Wisconsin Historical Society, and the Wisconsin Veterans Museum. It’s being evaluated by WCER researcher Shihmei Barger. She aims to provide scientifically rigorous evidence on the extent to which project outcomes meet the project goals and objectives.
Each year, the BIC Project focuses on a core topic in traditional U.S. history. The three annual themes are (a) roots and ideas of American democracy (b) becoming an American—immigration and migration, and (c) America in the world. BIC professional development activities include full-day workshops during the school year and annual, week-long summer institutes.
To assess whether intervention teachers’ knowledge and quality of instruction has improved, Barger measures (a) content analysis of lesson plans using a 12-point rubric on standards such as teachers’ historical content knowledge, analytic thinking skills, instructional scaffolding skills, and lesson structure; (b) classroom observation and evaluation based on Authentic Instruction and Assessment, which includes higher order thinking, deep knowledge, substantive conversation, and connections to the world beyond the classroom; (c) American History Teacher Test, a 100-item, multiple choice test constructed from the item bank of the Comprehensive Social Studies Assessment Project of the State Collaborative on Assessment and Student Standards; and (d) a teacher survey based on “Learning about the Teaching American History Program: A Questionnaire for Participants” from Evaluation of the Teaching American History Program.
Barger’s initial analysis of teacher lesson plans identified two areas for improvement: historical content knowledge and analytic thinking. When Barger collects and analyzes the next wave of sample lesson plans from BIC teachers she expects to see a 15% increase on all four of the lesson plan standards.
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