National History Day Works!

Tennessee Students Participate in National Program Shown to Boost School Performance and Job Skills

New Research Shows National History Day Participants Are Better Able to Succeed in School and Learn Skills to Become Informed Citizens, Sought-After Employees

NASHVILLE, TN – Students who participate in the National History Day (NHD) educational program, coordinated as Tennessee History Day by the Tennessee Historical Society, perform better on high-stakes tests, are better writers, more confident and capable researchers, and have a more mature perspective on current events and civic engagement than their peers, according to the first national evaluation of the widely used curricular program. Participants also show a greater ability to collaborate with peers, manage their time and persevere – all skills employers say are lacking in today's workforce.

The Tennessee Historical Society (THS) has coordinated the National History Day program in Tennessee since 2009. District contests are coordinated by local hosts in six Tennessee cities: Knoxville (East Tennessee Historical Society), Chattanooga (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga), Murfreesboro (Middle Tennessee State University), Memphis (University of Memphis), Clarksville (Austin Peay State University), and Greeneville (Tusculum College). The state contest, coordinated by the THS, is held in Nashville at Legislative Plaza each April. More than 6,000 students from 80 schools are expected to take part in Tennessee History Day this year.

Major sponsors of Tennessee History Day include Secretary of State Tre Hargett, Humanities Tennessee, MTSU Center for Historic Preservation, the Memorial Foundation, First Tennessee Foundation, and the Marguerite Miller Trost Fund.

Tennessee History Day's previous statewide coordinator, Kelly Wilkerson, notes, "The NHD Works report only confirms what we've all known for years about National History Day. Tennessee students who participate in the program are better prepared for college and for the workforce after just a year with the program. Now we have the data to prove it."

National History Day is a year-long academic program for 6-12th grade students focused on historical research, interpretation, and creative expression. NHD students become writers, filmmakers, Web designers, playwrights, and artists as they create unique contemporary expressions of history.

Teachers using History Day in the classroom also testify to the success of the program. Memphis City Schools teacher April Inman states, "History Day provides a great opportunity for students to learn skills they need for TCAP, but then to go much deeper. Because students can choose a topic that is of special interest to them, they become invested in the process and the learning. History Day also gives them an outlet for their creativity by allowing them to choose from so many different types of projects to complete."

Rebecca Byrd of New Center Elementary in Sevierville states, "Tennessee History Day is a valuable learning tool because participation challenges students to not only learn about a historical topic, but also practice the time management, technological and analytical skills that are essential in the modern workplace. Students who participate in Tennessee History Day hone the skills that they will one day put to use in the boardrooms, classrooms and courtrooms of Tennessee."

The full report, National History Day Works, is available at www.nhd.org/NHDworks. Some of the important findings include:

  • NHD students outperform their non-NHD peers on state standardized tests, not only in social studies, but in reading, science and math as well. For example,

    In 2008-2009 in Texas, twice as many NHD students achieved "commended performance" as non-NHD students (87 percent vs. 37 percent) on the social studies assessment of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS)

    At a South Carolina middle school where NHD was part of the curriculum for all eighth graders, students scored higher than students in a non-NHD middle school on the Language Arts, Math and Science segments of the 2008-09 PASS test.
  • NHD students are better writers, who write with a purpose and real voice, and marshal solid evidence to support their point of view. NHD students outscored comparison-group students on both pre- and post-writing assessments, receiving more high scores (5s or 6s) on a 6-point scale, and fewer low scores. NHD essays had more sentence variety, richer vocabulary, a more authentic voice, and better organization.
  • NHD students are critical thinkers who can digest, analyze and synthesize information. Performance assessments show that NHD students overall were significantly better than their peers at interpreting historical information, with an average of 79 percent vs. 61 percent correct.
  • NHD students learn 21st Century skills. They learn how to collaborate with team members, talk to experts, manage their time and persevere.
  • NHD has a positive impact among students whose interests in academic subjects may wane in high school. Analyses show that among Black and Hispanic students, NHD students outperform non-NHD students, posting higher performance assessment scores and levels of interests and skills. Compared to non-NHD boys, boys participating in NHD reported significantly higher levels of interest in history, civic engagement, and confidence in research skills, on both pre- and post-surveys.

    Conducted by San Francisco-based research firm Rockman, et al, the study looked at performance assessments, surveys and standardized test scores to evaluate students' research and writing skills, ability to interpret historical information, academic performance and interest in past and current events. Researchers then compared their evaluations of students who participated in National History Day (NHD) to their peers who did not participate in the program.

    The study, conducted at four sites around the country, found that on nearly every measure, NHD students' scores or ratings were higher than their peers who did not participate in the program. The sites evaluated included school districts in urban, suburban and rural settings: Aldine Unified School District, Houston, TX; Chesterfield Co. Schools, Chesterfield, SC; a large public school district in Colorado; and Paterson Public Schools, Paterson, NJ. The survey included a slightly higher sample of Black and Hispanic students compared to the population breakdown in U.S. public schools.

    Click here for a printable PDF of this news advisory.

    For the key findings, executive summary, or full report, visit www.nhd.org/NHDworks.htm.
    •