History BA graduates often seek to teach. In addition, all History BA graduates should possess certain analytical skills best evinced by the historical research process. As appropriate, the department will monitor student preparation for teaching certification and, in general, student mastery of history-thinking skills.
Objective
History Teacher Certification Preparation
To equip would-be public school history teachers with the skills to pass the Texas state examination for certification.
Indicator
TEXES Examination
Teacher education students who major or minor in History will pass the TExES examination.
Students who major in History and minor in secondary education must pass a state examination in History (or Social Studies) to be certified to teach in Texas. The School of Education informs each of these students of their obligation to take the "TExES" test. Generally a third of all History majors have this minor.
Passage of the TExES by a score of 80% qualifies the graduate to teach in Texas schools.
To qualify to take the TExES test, a student must score 80% on an official practice test. This test is furnished to the department by the Texas Education Agency. As of February 2015, both the History and Social Studies tests are new. The department administers the practice tests and furnishes scores to the School of Education, which in turn informs the students if they are qualified to take the final test.
Criterion
TExES Examination
70% of all teacher education students who major or minor in History will pass the TEXES history examination with at least a score of 80%.
Finding
TExES Outcomes
This academic year, 19 History students took the History 8-12, History 7-12, or the Social Studies test. 16 passed and 3 failed, for a pass rate of 84% (see attached).
Action
Teacher Test Preparation
The Texas teacher entrance tests have undergone significant revision in the past several years. Our stuedents have been surprised by their degree of difficulty and specificity. Last year, we altered our degree plan so as to prepare our students better for the greater emphasis on such things as world history. In spring 2016, the department plans to offer, for the first time in five years, HIST 3390. This course, "Conceptulaizing History Education," is a primer on the test and teaching History in Texas. Priority in the fall will be on finding staff for this course.
Objective
History Research And Thinking Skills
History students will demonstrate specific history thinking and research skills through the writing of finished history research projects.
Indicator
Senior Level Student Learning Outcome Assessments
During the course of the semester, students enrolled in 4000-level (senior level) courses will demonstrate mastery of historical scholarship and writing skills, as determined by a panel of history faculty.
A panel of two faculty members will select at random a sample of at least one-quarter of the total of 4000-level final research papers and scrutinize them according to an assessment instrument. This is the instrument perfected in previous years by panels of 4000-level evaluators and can be modified every year by that year's panel.
Criterion
Research Paper Outcomes
The rubric specifies four areas: Thesis; Evidence; Documentation; and Organization. The benchmark of success is an average score of 3.5/5 on each and a score of 14 overall.
Finding
4000-level Papers
The two-professor panel examined 12 of 48 4000-level papers from the year 2014-15. The average score in each field was 3.8 and overall 15.2. The variation on the overall score ranged from12 to 19. An example of a paper scored 17 is attached.
Goal
Skills In And Knowledge Of History
B.A. History graduates will be prepared for successful careers and productive citizenship by gaining ample knowledge and skills in departmental courses.
Objective
Learning Outcomes
To expose students, especially during their lower level classes, to various methods of teaching and intellectual stimuli all promoting key historical thinking skills.
Students will have multiple pedagogical experiences designed to ascertain which forms produce best results.
Indicator
Self- And Instructor Evaluations In History Core Curriculum
Students will have multiple pedagogical experiences designed to ascertain which forms produce best results. We will sample a group of students representing 5% of our total 1300-level students in a study. The faculty selected for this exercise are those teaching multiple sections of 1301/2 of similar size.
In the Fall of 2014, two sections of HIST 1301 were employed in an experiment. Using one section as a control, a comparison was made to an identically populated related section. (This was repeated in Spring 2015 using HIST 1302.) The following methods were used in the test section:
1. Reduction of lecture in favor of interactive student research activity. 2. Frequent promotion of small-group and team co-operative learning. 3. Use of Jeopardy-style gaming to promote information rehearsal.
Changes in assessments were:
1. Shift from memorization performance to researched essay responses. 2. Increased emphasis in grading expectations on appropriate use of critical thinking and analysis skills in addition to content recitation. 3. Provision of a consistent critical thinking and writing analysis rubric in preparation for all exams.
The traditionally taught course consisted of lecture and power point delivery assessed through short-answer and multiple-choice testing as is commonly practiced in freshman sections.
Success would be indicated by enhanced assessment performance from students in experimental sections.
Criterion
Modulation In Instruction Comparison
Testing outcomes will be compared. Success would be indicated by enhanced assessment performance from students in experimental sections. Because this is a new program objective, the specific amount of desired demonstrable performance is difficult to estimate.
Finding
Modulation In Instruction
Several History sections were included in an experiment in instructional modulation. However, the instructions we gave to the instructor failed to specify that grades cannot be used for assessment purposes. The year's data is inoperative.
Action
Instruction Modulation
We shall develop, early in the AY, assessment-appropriate evaluation instruments for the modulation-in-instruction sections and their comparisons, and apply this instruments in the spring and if possible the fall.
Objective
Learning Outcomes: Tests
Students will acquire relevant historical knowledge and the ability to put it to use.
Indicator
Pre-Post Testing In History Core Curriculum
Students enrolled in lower-level US history courses, by far the largest enrollments in the department's curriculum, will demonstrate an enhancement in historical knowledge over the course of the term. The department, consulting Texas norms, has devised pre-and post-tests based for this purpose.
Criterion
Pre-Post Tests
The department devised a new instrument (attached) of 25 questions, based on the norms the state of Texas has expressed for the introductory history courses mandated for every public university student. The department expects measurable improvement in the post-test results versus the pre-test, of at least 10%.
Finding
Pre/post Test Results
A sample of 711 (12%) of about 5,800 HIST 1301/1302 students took the new test. The average pre score was 53.4%, the average post score 58.1, for a difference of 4.7 percentage points.
Action
Instrument Revision
The new test of 25 questions was cut down from 50 so that a great deal of class time would not be allocated to this instrument. The 25 question test is not, perhaps, long enough to represent the range and differentials of student knowledge. This year, the department shall develop and apply a 30-question instrument.