Project Evaluation

Your Evaluators Carol Combs – Matt Courser – Paul Ditterline – Brent Garrett –

Introduction The Connecting to the Past Project is funded through a grant awarded to Tri- County Educational Service Center by the U.S. Department of Education. The project is a funded under the ED “Teaching American History” (TAH) Grant program ED requires that the project evaluate the project’s impact on teachers and students.

Project Goal At the end of each project year, classes taught by participating teachers will demonstrate improved student achievement in American history, as measured on a qualitative, spiral-based pre-post writing/analysis exercise.

Project Objectives 1.Increase participating teachers’ knowledge and understanding of traditional American History. 2.Increase skills and frequency with which teachers access and use primary source materials in the classroom. The U.S. Department of Education hopes that achieving these three objectives will result in improved student achievement in American History.

Evaluation Objectives To evaluate the impact of the Connecting to the Past Project on: –Teacher content knowledge –Teaching practices –Skills with primary sources, –Skills with technology, and –Student achievement To make sure that the project is meeting your needs as teachers and providing useful materials and information To collect feedback from you that can be used to improve program activities

Evaluation Design Quasi-Experimental Evaluation Design—we are comparing the cohort of participating teachers to a similar cohort of teachers who are not in the program Pre-post design—we will field a teacher content knowledge assessment and a student performance measure twice—once in the fall and once in the spring and look at changes from the first to the second.

Evaluation Details We will achieve our evaluation objectives by asking you to complete a number of evaluation surveys. These include: 1.Annual Knowledge Survey (pre-post at the beginning and end of the project/school year) 2.Seminar Surveys (pre-post at the beginning and end of each seminar and during the Summer Institute) 3.Annual Satisfaction and Impact Survey (at the end of the school year)

Evaluation Details, cont. We also will ask for your help with the following evaluation activities: 1)Lesson Plans: Providing us with a lesson plan at the beginning of the program and at the end of the program 2)Student Performance Measure: Implementing a spiral writing assignment with students from one of your classes —at the beginning of the program (this fall) and next spring (April-May 2009)

Important Things to Remember About the Evaluation 1.The evaluation is required by the U.S. Department of Education—we have to have it 2.We are not evaluating your performance as individual teachers—we are evaluating the performance of participating teachers as a group, compared to a separate group of teachers who are not in the program 3.We are unable to share your individual scores on the evaluation instruments. These scores and other evaluation data are confidential. Evaluation reports will be posted on the project website.

Important Things to Remember About the Evaluation, cont. 4.The evaluation provides useful information—information that we will use to improve the program. It also gives you a chance to share your thoughts and input. 5.We are required to send the evaluation findings to the U.S. Department of Education 6.We need your help to make this successful

Important Things to Remember About the Evaluation, cont. 7.Most project activities you participate in this year will have time devoted to completing evaluation instruments. Here’s what we ask: Please take the evaluation seriously--it is critical to the success of the project Please fill out the evaluation instruments honestly—without using notes or asking your colleagues to help with answers Please avoid talking to your colleagues and ensure that the evaluation environment is quiet and orderly until everyone has completed the instrument(s). 8.We have worked hard to minimize the burden and time imposed by the evaluation

Connecting to the Past Project Evaluation—Current Needs 1.Annual Content Knowledge Assessment (today) 2.Pre-test and post-test for the today’s seminar (today) 3.A lesson plan you used prior to the start of the project (we will you about this).

Evaluation—What’s Coming Up Student Performance Measure—pre-test –Writing assignment for one class of your students to complete –Based on the spiral questions methodology –Grade-level/standards specific –We are providing these today—all copies have been made for you –We need them completed as soon as possible (see Matt or if you need more time). –We are providing a postage-paid return mailer for these.

Middle School (Courtesy of the Ohio Historical Society, Photo Number AL06095) Level I: Description 1. Describe the people in the picture. 2. What clues does the photograph give about where they are? Level II: Interpretation 1. What time period was this photo taken? What clues help you answer this? 2. What can you tell about their social or occupational status? Level III: Analysis 1. Why do you think this group is assembled? What are their goals? 2. What does the picture tell you about the expectations American society had for men and women at the time?

Questions and Comments?