Sustained Professional Learning is Key to the Successful Implementation of New Civics Curricula
Authors: Maya Williams, Sarah Burnham
Contributors: Alberto Medina, Sam Searles, Riya Rahman
CIRCLE’s partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) over the past several years has supported the adoption and implementation of a new, standards-aligned social studies curriculum, Investigating History, for grades 3-7 across the state of Massachusetts. CIRCLE has been contracted to study the implementation of Investigating History (IH), which provides open-access, high-quality materials to support both teachers and students in adopting inquiry-based, culturally sustaining social studies instruction. The IH curriculum also has a strong emphasis on civic learning and is fully aligned with the 2018 History and Social Science Framework.
Following a full rollout of curricular materials for grades 5-7 in academic year 2023-2024, the One8 Foundation generously supported implementation of the IH curriculum for these grade levels in 20 schools across the state in the 2024-2025 academic year. One8 contracted with the Educurious team out of the National Center on Education and the Economy to develop and deliver rigorous, high-quality curriculum-based professional learning (PL) to schools committing to full implementation of the IH curriculum. Unlike one-off professional development, which can rely on single-serving workshops, the IH professional learning program employs a coherent scope and sequence of repeated active learning sessions to support teachers. CIRCLE partnered with the One8 Foundation to evaluate the effectiveness of this newly developed PL sequence and further understand the implementation and sustainability of IH adoption across districts and schools in Massachusetts.
This sustainability evaluation continues our IH evaluation work for grades 5-7. Because of the various ways districts were supported by both One8 and DESE, we used a mixed-methods evaluation to understand these approaches and how outcomes may vary across district contexts, PL engagement, and experience with the IH curriculum. The evaluation included analyses of classroom observations, district leader interviews, and survey data from both teachers and students. We primarily focused on understanding the outcomes of One8 support and continue building on our existing knowledge base to support the implementation and improvement of this high-quality social studies curriculum for students in Massachusetts. From this evaluation, we aim to highlight and emphasize that having intensive, high-quality professional development support is associated with better outcomes related to the implementation of an inquiry-based social studies curriculum.
Focusing on Curriculum-Based Professional Learning
CIRCLE’s prior work has underscored the importance of access to high-quality professional development in civic education. Although IH’s content focus is broader than civics alone, it is an inquiry-based curriculum that emphasizes social studies skills essential to civic learning and development. The 20 schools in the One8 program received full PL support as part of their participation. Some schools outside of the One8 program independently participated in the full scope and sequence of the PL sessions; other schools participated in only some of the PL sessions; and others implemented IH without any One8 PL usage. In our analyses, we defined “full” PL support as educators who attended all five full-day in-person PL sessions offered by One8, “partial” support as educators who attended some of the in-person PL sessions, and “no” support as educators who did not attend any in-person PL sessions. This evaluation offers preliminary insights into how increased PL may translate into stronger implementation while also identifying areas where experience with the curriculum itself influences successful implementation.
To be a part of the One8 program, schools needed to explicitly allot instructional time for social studies, as well as to treat IH as their core social studies/history curriculum. Schools that made these conscious efforts to build in instructional time for educators, and to support educators in the adoption of IH were more likely to report that PD they received helped them prepare for new instructional practices and understand the curriculum’s structure and goals. However, these outcomes are shaped by district-level context. Prioritizing social studies, supporting the adoption of a high-quality inquiry-based curriculum, and allocating staff time accordingly likely contributed to conditions that provided additional support for teachers implementing new materials. Prior CIRCLE research has highlighted the importance of such sustained support when adopting new educational standards. Being a part of the One8 program may have catalyzed these conditions in these schools, which may have, in turn, led to more positive educator perceptions of IH adoption.
In our evaluation, we also observed that educators who received full support from One8 had higher self-reported teacher efficacy compared to educators who did not receive as much support. Teacher efficacy refers to a teacher’s confidence in their ability to support and promote student outcomes (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001). Specifically, we asked educators to report on their efficacy as it relates to using the IH curriculum.
In comparing across groups, it appears that educators in the Partial Support group often reported lower levels of efficacy compared to educators in both the Full Support group and No Support group. It may be that there is a wide variety in implementation and support within the Partial Support group that contributes to slightly lower levels of efficacy, as those in the No Support and Full Support group are more straightforward in their implementation. It may also be that teachers in these groups have varying levels of experience with IH. Educators in the Full Support group were reported slightly more experience with IH, which may contribute to their perceived levels of efficacy. Importantly, there are still high levels of self-reported efficacy across the three groups. As such, these results underscore our existing recommendations for civic education: teachers may feel more confident in their abilities to promote student learning when they have consistent, robust support, which can be especially helpful when implementing a new type of social studies curriculum.
Areas Needing Targeted Support: Cultural Relevance and Inquiry Skills
There were some areas in which our evaluation revealed a need for more targeted support. From our survey of educators, it did not appear that having more One8 support or having prior experience with IH improved their perceived effectiveness of professional development in helping address cultural relevance or connecting the curriculum to their students’ lived experiences. IH is intended to provide culturally sustaining materials for both educators and students; since there does not seem to be an observable effect on engaging in these practices based on PL support or experience, there may need to be more targeted support for culturally sustaining practices when using IH.
We heard a variety of experiences related to culturally responsive practices in IH from our qualitative data. Some educators reported that IH provides insightful, thoughtful, age-appropriate resources for teaching tragic historical events like enslavement. However, other educators shared challenges in relating older historical events to the current realities and life experiences of their students. The One8 PL program had a large focus on content for educators who are new to the IH curriculum. It may be that culturally responsive practices need to be woven into this content push so educators feel better equipped to make connections between historical events and students’ lived experiences. Given these findings, there is a need for more nuanced and intentional professional learning opportunities designed to support culturally sustaining instructional practices throughout curriculum adoption, IH, or otherwise.
We also gained valuable insights from students through anonymous surveys administered during this evaluation. Students in grades 5-7 completed a brief survey about their experiences using the IH curriculum. Overall, students reported neutral-to-positive perceptions of their social studies classes; however, the survey results point to several areas for improvement. Approximately two-thirds of students reported feeling confident in their ability to use evidence to support historical claims, but only about half indicated that they were able to consider and navigate multiple perspectives to develop historical understanding. The ability to engage with multiple perspectives is a core component of inquiry-based learning and is intentionally embedded throughout the IH curriculum, which several educators identified as a strength.
This gap between students’ reported confidence in using evidence and their ability to work with multiple perspectives is noteworthy. Because both skills are essential to inquiry-based instruction and central to the design of the IH curriculum, these findings suggest that inquiry practices, particularly those related to perspective-taking, may not yet be consistently emphasized or routinely practiced in classrooms, despite their prominence in the curriculum materials. Alternatively, it may be that students need more time to sit with these skills and more opportunities to practice them. Educators may benefit from professional learning opportunities that are explicitly focused on helping students develop these skills.
Conclusion
The interconnected evaluation efforts among CIRCLE, DESE, and the One8 Foundation have provided valuable insights into how the Investigating History curriculum has been implemented over time. Culturally responsive pedagogy skills represent significant lifts and may require especially focused, sustained support through professional learning in order for educators to feel that their practices are changing.
Findings from this evaluation indicate that robust, intensive professional development, though it might not address all dimensions of inquiry-based and civic-focused instruction, plays a critical role in supporting effective implementation of IH. This reinforces prior research pointing to sustained teacher support contributing to stronger curriculum adoption and instructional practice.
References
- Tschannen-Moran, M. & Hoy, A. W. (2001). Teacher efficacy: Capturing an elusive construct. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17(7), 783-805. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0742-051X(01)00036-1
