Challenge

The Library of Congress (Library) is the world’s largest library and America’s oldest cultural institution. Since 2006, the Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program has supported the use of Library resources in K–12 classrooms to enhance student engagement, improve literacy and critical‑thinking skills, and build content knowledge. Hundreds of thousands of teachers, and by extension, their students have participated in the program. The Library is now working to understand TPS’s impact (e.g., ability to reach underserved students with culturally relevant materials and opportunities to engage learners with information that is meaningful to them).

EDC’s Teaching Primary Sources (TPS) Impact Study was funded by the Library of Congress to explore the ways in which TPS professional development and materials have advanced the Library’s goal of engaging, informing, and inspiring Americans. The study team is working to identify the various elements—including specific Library resources and program features—that have contributed to the impact of the program. The team has a special focus on identifying strategies that the Library has successfully used to create deep and broad connections with diverse communities, educational organizations, and teacher and student populations.

Key Activities

The project is carrying out the following activities:

  • Identify the impacts that Library of Congress collections and materials have had on students, teachers, and educational communities
  • Revise and update the program impact model
  • Identify effective emerging strategies and practices that lead to greater programmatic impact
  • Provide a report with suggestions for expanding positive impacts to new organization types, teacher and student populations, geographic locations, and other recipients

Impact

  • The study will provide the Library of Congress with an analysis of their impact on students and teachers through the TPS program.

Learn More

PROJECT DIRECTOR
DURATION
2020–Present
FUNDED BY
The Library of Congress
PARTNERS

The WNET Group