EVALUATION OF THE CALIFORNIA SUBJECT M ATTER PROJECT
STUDY DESCRIPTION
INTRODUCTION
The University of California Office of the President has partnered with SRI International, an
independent non-profit research organization based in Menlo Park, CA, to assess the impact of
California Subject Matter Project (CSMP) professional development programs on teacher instructional
practice.
The 2014 offering of the California History-Social Science Project’s (CH-SSP) The Cold War—Teaching
with Primary Sources From Library of Congress summer institute will be included in the CSMP
evaluation. There will be another CH-SSP program on the Cold War in 2015 that will not be included in
an evaluation. In order to apply for the 2014 program, you must consent to participate in the
evaluation and complete the spring 2014 data collection activities. If there are more applicants than
available spots, we will randomly assign applicants to either receive the Cold War program, or to serve
as a comparison group. If you are randomly assigned to the comparison group, you will be guaranteed
a spot in the 2015 Cold War Program. Both program participants and comparison group participants
will receive incentives for data collection activities (detailed below).
DATA COLLECTION ACTIVITIES , TIME COMMITMENTS AND INCENTIVES
As part of the study, SRI staff will collect surveys and instructional design materials from both program
participants and comparison group participants. SRI will also be conducting interviews and classroom
observations of program participants only. These data collection activities are not intended to evaluate
individuals’ capabilities or their performance. Your participation in the study will contribute to
important learning about whether and how CSMP professional development programs improve
instruction. To show our gratitude for your time and effort, study participants will receive the
following incentives (in the form of Amazon gift cards) for completed data collection activities:
Program Participants
Comparison Group Participants
Instructional practice survey
 Administered spring 2014 & spring 2015
 Approximately 20 minutes to complete
 $25 incentive per survey administration
Instructional practice survey
 Administered spring 2014 & spring 2015
 Approximately 20 minutes to complete
 $25 incentive per survey administration
Submission of instructional design materials from
one learning segment
 Collected spring 2014 & spring 2015
 Approximately 90 minutes to complete
 $100 incentive per submission
Submission of instructional design materials from
one learning segment
 Collected spring 2014 & spring 2015
 Approximately 90 minutes to complete
 $100 incentive per submission
Classroom observation
 Observation of one lesson in spring 2015
Interview
 One interview with SRI researcher
 Approximately 45 minutes
CONFIDENTIALITY AND ANONYMITY
We will treat the information you supply in a confidential manner, store it in a secure location, and will
not share your individual responses with anyone at your school or district. Your name will NOT be
used in the study and all data will be reported in a manner that does not reveal your identity. We may
share de-identified instructional design materials with CH-SSP program staff so they can improve the
Cold War program by tailoring instruction to meet participants’ needs. All other information
(interview responses, survey responses, observation notes) will be summarized at the program level.
MORE INFORMATION
If you have questions about the research study, please contact the study’s Project Director, Miya
Warner by email (miya.warner@sri.com) or phone (650-859-5751).