Adopting, Launching, and Implementing Investigating History

These resources will help you learn more about Investigating History, determine in what ways it can meet your needs, and develop a plan for implementation.

• Classroom Instructional Videos: These videos illustrate Investigating History lessons from classrooms across Massachusetts. They are intended to provide examples of what Investigating History looks like in practice and the type of instructional moves and strategies that can help teachers effectively bring the Investigating History materials to life with students. Educators can use them to build their vision of an Investigating History classroom, reflect upon and push their current practice, or engage in focused study of a particular element of instruction.
• Setting the Stage for Success: Adoption and Implementation Guide : Designed to help schools and districts make more informed and thoughtful choices about the Investigating History adoption process, as well as to support their ongoing planning and implementation work by highlighting areas where they may need to invest additional time, resources, and/or attention. It draws on the experiences of schools who piloted Investigating History to lay out the conditions that are critical to Investigating History's long-term success and provide a self-assessment tool that schools and districts can use to determine the extent to which each condition currently exists.
• Design Specifications : Outlines the collective classroom vision that undergirds the Investigating History curriculum, describing what history and social science learning should look like for all students, and describes the materials' alignment with the latest research on teaching and learning in history and social science education.
• Evaluation Reports: Throughout the development process, Investigating History has gone through a robust process of third-party evaluation. Explore this interim report from the first year of implementation for Grades 5–7 (Spring 2024).

These resources will help you explore Investigating History as you review it in depth and ultimately determine whether or not to adopt it in your classroom, school, or district.

• Access the Curriculum: Digital access to the complete curriculum for Grades 5–7 as well as supplemental materials such as the Curriculum Guidebook or grade-level Course Overviews. Information is also available about ordering professionally printed copies of the Investigating History materials.
• Classroom Instructional Videos: 10–15 minute videos from Investigating History classrooms to help illustrate key pedagogical practices and strategies that can help bring the materials to life.
• Testimonial Videos : Short videos in which Investigating History teachers, leaders, and students speak to their experiences with the curriculum. Videos focus on the impact of Investigating History, the role of inquiry in the curriculum, and the way in which the materials are culturally relevant.

These resources will help you begin using Investigating History and introduce the curriculum to educators and families.

• Certified Professional Development Providers: Many of these organizations have been approved by DESE to offer programming focused on curriculum internalization and initial adoption. We strongly recommend that districts partner with a certified professional development provider in order to leverage these providers' existing expertise in Investigating History's content, pedagogy, and design.
• Curriculum Guidebook : Designed to help orient educators to the materials-both their technical design and organization as well as the architecture of inquiry that shapes students' learning over the course of a unit, including the core inquiry routines. The guidebook also includes suggestions for internalizing lessons and preparing to teach them.
• Background Briefs: Investigating History Background Briefs are designed to support educators in developing their own content knowledge prior to teaching each unit. They include videos from scholars and experts; curated collections of external resources; and notes on key ideas, important terminology, and possible misconceptions.
• Classroom Instructional Videos: 10–15 minute videos from Investigating History classrooms to help illustrate key pedagogical practices and strategies that can help bring the materials to life.
• Family Communication: DESE has developed several overview documents to introduce Investigating History to families and community members, including this flyer describing your reasons for adopting the curriculum and this one-page overview of the key instructional principles .

These resources will support effective instruction using the Investigating History curriculum, including ongoing learning and continuous improvement.

• Certified Professional Development Providers: Many of these organizations have been approved by DESE to offer programming focused on deepening educators' understanding and capacity or providing ongoing coaching and support. We strongly recommend that districts partner with a certified professional development provider in order to leverage these providers' existing expertise in Investigating History's content, pedagogy, and design.
• Background Briefs: Investigating History Background Briefs are designed to support educators in developing their own content knowledge prior to teaching each unit. They include videos from scholars and experts; curated collections of external resources; and notes on key ideas, important terminology, and possible misconceptions.
• Classroom Instructional Videos: 10–15 minute videos from Investigating History classrooms to help illustrate key pedagogical practices and strategies that can help bring the materials to life.
• DESE Instructional Planning and Observation Tools: This collection of Instructional Planning and Observation Tools includes tools focused on unit unpacking, lesson internalization, student work analysis, and classroom observations. It was developed to support continuous improvements of evidence-based, inclusive and culturally and linguistically sustaining practices that advance the student goals of the DESE Educational Vision.