GeoCivics

The GeoCivics project met and exceeded all GPRA and Project-Level goals of the grant. The GPRA measures aimed for a 20% increase in scores from pre/post quizzes on American History, Geography, Civics, and Government including an assessment on the Constitution. The goal was to also have more than 80% of participants have a final score above 80% on all assessments. The average score on the pre-assessments across all three years was 63% and the average score on the post-assessments were 95% - exceeding the goals of the project and the intent that this work increased teacher participant knowledge in American History, Geography, Civics, and Government, and pedagogies and self-efficacy in teaching these content areas to English learners (EL). In addition, 91% of the participants had a score above 80% on all post-assessments. The greatest increase in content knowledge were teachers Kindergarten through sixth grade. The greatest increase in pedagogical skills and self-efficacy were teachers in sixth through twelfth grade. The following Project-Level Measures include: Project Measure #1a: To create (1a) and provide (2) online and face-to-face PD for educators on American history, geography, and civics skills and content to improve educators' level of competency and further student achievement in the disciplines of American history, geography, civics, and English language arts trained a total of 43 completers out of a goal of 30 (10/year) (we were approved in year 1 to add additional numbers). These teachers represent 17 states, DC, and 5 U.S. Territories. They come from diverse cultural, linguistic, economic, and geographic backgrounds. We had teachers who taught English learners in Kindergarten through high school. More than 83% of the completers are underrepresented teachers who teach in BIE school, Title I schools, and in rural, urban, and suburban areas across the country. Each teacher completed pre-data and modules in American history, geography, civics, government, and pedagogies in teaching this content to diverse student populations prior to the academy. Each teacher engaged in a place-based academy that instructed in these content areas, modeled effective teaching pedagogies, applied evidence-based methods in teaching social studies to English learners, and provided time to develop standards-based lessons, assessments, and civic action projects. These participants then piloted the lessons and civic action projects in their classrooms and completed all post-data. Project Measure #1b: To develop hands-on, content-based language instructions with effective EL strategies that aligns to state and college and career ready standards for all students including diverse learners. Each participant developed 3-5 lesson plans with EL strategies designed for English learners. A total of 117 K-12 lessons were developed, piloted, published, and are freely accessible to educators across the country - exceeding our goal of 100 lessons for the project. Each lesson was reviewed by three experts in the content/pedagogies. These lessons align to state and national standards, provide scaffolding for English learners, are culturally responsive, embed hands-on, engaging activities, and provide student materials and assessments. More than a third of the lessons engage students in civic action in their local communities. Project Measure #1c: To support educators' self-study of content and skills necessary for their professional knowledge and skills improvement, and to assist in lesson development to improve student achievement; 43/46 teachers earned Geo-Civics Educators Certification CEUs and completed all requirements at a retention rate of 93% with 43 teacher completers of the 30 original goal of the project. Project Measure #1d: To create online PD modules available to teachers across the nation. Modules have been developed, vetted, and used to train teacher participants in American history, geography, civics, and pedagogical practices. The modules include a module on the Constitution, Foundations of Geography, Citizenship, The Geography of Government, Pedagogy (Pedagogy of Social Studies, Strategies to Support Academic Vocabulary Development, and Danger of a Single Story- Including Many Stories in Social Studies Curriculum), and Social Studies Modules related to annual academies (Westward Expansion, U.S. Territories & Regions, DC and Statehood, Juneteenth, We the People, and Running for President). These six modules (with sub sections) met the goal of six modules developed, piloted, published, and used to train project participants. These modules are freely accessible online and have been shared (in addition to the lessons) with teachers and school leaders across the country at local, state, and national conferences. Project Measure #2a: To guide teachers in the development of technology-supported civic action projects for their classrooms resulting in students engaging in civic action in their communities with 100% of teachers creating a civic action project and implementing civic action and civic-mindedness into their classroom curriculum. Project Measure #3a: To utilize available technologies to support instructional practice through data collection and analysis to guide informed-based decision making to improve teachers' level of content knowledge and skills and to improve student achievement with 100% of teachers utilizing technologies and increasing their knowledge, skills, and confidence in using technology to teach American history, geography, and civics to English learners. 43/43 teachers have been trained using innovative technologies to increase knowledge, skills, and confidence in supporting instruction with 100% increasing in knowledge, skills, and confidence in using innovative technologies, including AI, in supporting all students learning American history, geography, and civics while increasing pedagogical practices in teaching these content areas to all student populations. Project Measure #3b: To utilize available technologies to develop free, online PD for teachers which will be disseminated through a free, university supported website with 20% increase in usage of lesson plans from year 1 to year 3. We had a 220% increase in usage of lesson plans published to the website from year 1 to year 3 and have included the lessons on several other freely accessible websites to ensure open access to K-12 teachers across the United States. We have collaborated with local and national organizations including AZGA, NCGE, and some non-profits to get the lessons into the hands of teachers. In addition, more than 50 presentations from project participants and staff have shared the lessons and resources with educators across the country. Project Measure #4a: To support underrepresented teacher leaders in GeoCivics self-study to improve teacher pedagogy and student achievement with 96% of teacher participants increasing in knowledge, skills, and confidence in teaching American history, geography, and civics to linguistically diverse students and seeing themselves as teacher leaders. More than 92% of teachers increased in knowledge, skills, and confidence in teaching with the greatest increase in content knowledge for the elementary teachers (100%), the greatest increase in pedagogical skills with the secondary teachers (89%), and an increase of confidence in teaching at 92% across all teachers. 96% of teachers who increased knowledge, skills, and confidence in teaching American history, geography and civics saw themselves as teacher leaders following the academy. Leadership was supported and developed by providing opportunities for participants to share with their colleagues, present at conferences, mentor fellow participants and have a voice in the academies and future academies while sharing their expertise and experiences. Some Key Activities that contributed to the successful completion of the project include: •High Quality, engaging, accessible professional development (PD) modules, academies, and conferences. These included online modules that teachers had access to before the academies. Teachers then engaged in place-based academies that provided them the opportunity to learn American history, geography, civics, and government in the field while engaging with experts, colleagues, and community members. Following the academies and development of lessons, participants attended and presented at a conference where they engaged with social studies content, community organizations, EL strategies, pedagogies such as gamification. and learned and utilized innovative technologies to develop their content and pedagogical knowledge. This series of PD supported the educators in developing knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy in teaching American history, geography, civics, and government content to English learners. •Scaffolded lesson development where teachers brainstormed lessons based on their knowledge and place-based PD experiences and then developed the lessons that aligned to standards, embedded language supports and included student materials and assessments. The teachers were mentored along the way and had content and pedagogical experts providing ongoing feedback throughout the process. The teachers then took their new knowledge and taught their students by piloting the lessons before publishing the lessons to the project website. These lessons have been evaluated, reviewed, and refined through an iterative process to ensure they are engaging, high quality lessons that all teachers can use. •Leadership development was an integral part of the project planning, implementing, and assessing to increase the number of underrepresented teacher leaders in the field who teach American history, geography, civics, and government. The teacher participants had an equal voice throughout the academies, shared experiences and expertise within the sessions, had a voice in the planning of future academies, became mentors for other participants, collaborated with experts, presented lessons to colleagues, and continually engage in collegiate dialogue with the cohorts to this day. Some Key Strategies that made an impact include: •Leadership - this project engaged in leadership locally and broadly to support the teacher leaders before, during, and after the academies •Recruiting - by recruiting broadly and intentionally to reach diverse teachers in urban, rural, and suburban Title I schools we had more than 600 applicants resulting in a remarkably diverse pool of participants who represent geographic, cultural, linguistic, experience teaching, and grade level experiences that made for three amazing cohorts that provided a space for sharing of knowledge and expertise while growing in knowledge and skills in teaching social studies. •Retaining participants - we had a 93% completion rate who completed all project components. • Implementation - the GeoCivics project met and exceeded all goals of the project. We attribute this to the approach in conducting PDs, valuing teachers, and ongoing support and leadership development that made a lasting impact on teacher participants across all grade levels. Some Promising Practices include: •Process for developing and implementing the civic action projects (CAP) that were culturally responsive and focused on presenting perspectives often missing from standardized curriculum •Networking - through networking, we were able to recruit a very diverse group of educators who then were able to engage in a meaningful professional development that valued teachers. •The GeoCivics PD valued the expertise, needs, and experiences of teachers. The experiences that took teachers into the field to grow their body of knowledge while providing space for them to grow as experts in the field through collaborative experiences and reflective practices made the PDs impactful beyond increasing knowledge. These PDs increased skills, confidence, and leadership qualities where teacher participants saw themselves as teacher leaders in the field as a result of the experience in GeoCivics.