When Professional Development in History Intersects With Teacher Accountability: What Enables Changes in Practice?

• In Event: 25.062 - Reform and the Social Studies

Abstract

This paper uses Hochberg and Desimone’s (2010) theoretical framework for professional development (PD) in accountability contexts to interpret two teachers’ experiences in a PD program focused on historical inquiry, analysis, and argumentation, within an urban school district marked by stringent accountability pressures tied to high-stakes test scores. Findings emphasize two arguments: first, that the alignment of leadership goals and practices across a district and its schools can impact teachers’ uptake of PD outcomes considerably; and second, that PD in historical investigation and interpretation must deliberately and overtly reconcile school-contextual constraints that challenge its effectiveness on practice. This paper also addresses divergent interpretations of what ends effective history PD in accountability contexts ought to serve and how it should serve them.

Author

• Kevin W. Meuwissen, University of Rochester