Evaluation of the Teaching American History Program

摘要

In 2001 the United States Congress charged the Department of Education with creating the Teaching American History (TAH) Program to improve teacher content knowledge of and instructional strategies for U.S. history. In its first two years, the program's total funding increased from $50 million to $100 million and grants were awarded to 174 local districts that proposed to serve a total of 24,000 teachers. During this time period, the TAH program found a receptive audience and appeared to be providing the resources needed to meet its stated goals. The evaluation of the 2001 and 2002 grantee cohorts indicates, however, that the projects may not have reached those teachers typically considered most in need of additional professional development, and that the training provided did not always match research-based definitions of effective professional development. The report provides key findings from this evaluation, which examined the implementation of the program and characteristics of the activities, content, and teacher participants for TAH projects awarded during the first two years of the program. The findings are based on surveys of participants and project directors, case studies, extant documents, and a pilot study of teacher-produced lesson plans.