Program Evaluation FAQ's

Does Facing History work?
The impact Facing History seeks to have is framed by our mission statement. We aim to provide quality professional development to teachers and teachers consistently report that we do. We aim to engage youth in a rigorous examination of racism, prejudice, and antisemitism, and our resource materials are considered the best in the field in this regard. We seek to promote the civic development of youth, and independent and internal evaluation studies consistently demonstrate our positive impact on civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions. We aim for students to connect history with the moral choices they make in their own lives, and studies also consistently document that students do indeed acquire historical knowledge while improving on moral development scales. These outcomes for teachers and students have been remarkably consistent across the more than 80 studies of the program conducted by independent and internal researchers.

How do Facing History evaluations stack up against state of the art research?
Facing History is committed to conducting research that meets or exceeds the standards in the field of social science. Independent panels established by the U.S. Department of Education have consistently validated the program's effectiveness based on our evaluation studies (1980, 1986, 1993, 2001) and external evaluators are currently carrying out a two-year study that uses gold standard experimental methods. Findings from this study, therefore, will have maximum credibility with policymakers and educators and the researchers implementing the study have stellar reputations for conducting the highest quality evaluations. They are from Harvard University, New York University, Eastern Michigan University, and Abt Associates, Inc., a highly reputable, international research agency.

Are the impacts of Facing History lasting?
Research directly following professional development activities demonstrates that teachers experience a revitalized interest in teaching and feel equipped with resources and methods to successfully address complex social, ethical and civic issues in their teaching. As well, follow-up research conducted 3 months to 8 years after participating in professional development activities illustrates similar results and supports these findings.

Studies of students also demonstrate lasting effects in social and moral growth as well as reduced racism, from pre- to post-tests separated by 8 months. Facing History is excited to explore lasting effects further through the experimental study currently underway, which will follow teachers and students over two years.

Does Facing History work as well internationally?
Evaluations of face-to-face seminars in Colombia, the Czech Republic, England, Northern Ireland, Rwanda and South Africa, as well as online seminars involving educators from 33 countries, illustrate the same positive impact as Facing History's United States seminars. Educators worldwide express a strong need for resources and methods to help them use history as a vehicle to address complex social, ethical and civic issues in their teaching. Research involving educators from many countries in Europe as well as in South Africa has shown that Facing History fills that need. In addition, studies of students in the UK and South Africa demonstrate an impact on students' engagement in learning, awareness of prejudice, racism and antisemitism, and ability to stand up for what they believe in.

What else besides research can make us confident that the program is effective?
Impact studies are not the only source of evidence for Facing History's effectiveness. Consistent high market demand is also an indicator of our success and demand is expressed at every level: national ministries of education of various countries use Facing History as a tool to promote transformation towards a more civil society, school districts use Facing History as a major component of district-wide civic and character education and violence prevention initiatives, principals use Facing History as a critical tool for urban school reform, and teachers turn to Facing History to help transform their classrooms into safe spaces for critical thinking and deliberation about the most pressing issues of our times. Hundreds of individuals from each of these groups have attested to the program's effectiveness as have students and parents. Time and time again, we hear that Facing History changes students' lives by teaching them that they make a difference in their communities and society.