The LEA 's Liberty Under Law program aims to ensure that American history becomes a core discipline in the district's schools. The program will provide 24 days of professional development for American history teachers in grades 5 and 8 in U.S. history content and teaching strategies that integrate the arts with technology. Project partners include the Constitutional Rights Foundation, Loyola Marymount University, Pepperdine University, and the Skirball Cultural Center. The program includes an intensive 2-week summer institute for 3 cohorts of 40 teachers each year. In preparation for the institute, participants will attend history workshops, after-school study group meetings, and monthly literature discussion circles with historians, observe classroom demonstrations, and study history standards and assessments. Learning activities fulfill California standards in American history for all grades K-8. Content covers: beginnings to 1607, colonial heritage 1607-1753, movement for independence 1754-1783, forming a new nation 1784-1819, western expansion 1820-1869, Civil War and Reconstruction 1850-1877, and industrialization, immigration and reforms 1878-1914. Periods will be studied through the lens of the U.S. Constitution.