Assessment of teachers’ gains across multiple historic site-based professional development programs

Abstract

This paper reports on Y3/3-year project to assess teacher growth in historical knowledge, skills, and dispositions, at historic site-based teacher PD programs (HSBPD). This third year study, drawn from two different historic sites—Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello and George Washington’s Mount Vernon, we found a plurality of teachers evinced growth in historical thinking after exposure to on-going archeological and interpretive work at the sites. This is the first study to tie historical thinking gains to specific elements of teachers’ work with historic dssites. As part of the larger study, these results move us towards more generalizable understandings of HSBPD outcomes.