The TAH Evaluation Component

As part of the Annual Performance Report, Teaching American History (TAH) all grantees are required to report on both (1) project-specific measures and (2) Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) measures. The grantees are also required to use an external evaluator for part of the data collection.
The current TAH GPRA indicators are: (1) Students in experimental and quasi-experimental studies of educational effectiveness of Teaching American History projects will demonstrate higher achievement on course content measures and/or statewide U.S. history assessments than students in control and comparison groups. ÿ(2) Teachers will demonstrate an increased understanding of American history through the use of nationally validated tests of American history that can be directly linked to their participation in the Teaching American History program.

All grantees must respond to these two GPRA indicators providing, to the extent possible, all the information they have on student performance and teacher content knowledge gains. This Western Maryland TAH Initiative is not an experimental study so for the first GPRA indicator we report the grades of classes with TAH teachers and grades of classes with non-TAH teachers. That is aggregated data only; student names or teacher names are not used.
To address the second GPRA indicator we are using knowledge pretest and posttests of knowledge. Those tests are created by the Specialists and reviewed by Dr. Wiseman, the Academic Director. The external evaluator handles the test administration, scoring, and reporting.

For project-specific, or the non-GPRA measures, various formative measurements are used. The grant staff, in conjunction with the external evaluator, collects most of that data. For example, data are collected on the number of teachers attending in-service trainings, the input of the grant partners, and participant evaluation of events (study tours and Rocky Gap Institute).
If you have questions about, or need assistance with any of the evaluation components of the grant, please contact your TAH specialist or contact the external evaluator, Dr. Susie Coddington, 410-992-9563 or susiecoddington@verizon.net.