This district north of Seattle has seen a shift in demographics in recent years. Today, about 30 percent of students come from families in poverty, 13 percent receive special education services and the number of bilingual students has jumped; these factors all contribute to achievement gaps. Each project year will begin with a 3-day summer kickoff session led by experts and historians; it will be followed by 11 full-day in-service workshops that will include lectures and book discussions with guest historians, intensive content learning and pedagogical training, and grade-level group meetings to conduct lesson study. The initial cohort of 35 teachers will participate in Years 1 to 3, and a new cohort of 20 will participate in Years 4 and 5; this second cohort will be mentored by 10 members of the first cohort. The course of study will address two essential questions: (1) What is the role of the citizen in democracy? (2) What is the experience of the citizen in society? While exploring these questions, the content strand will focus on traditional American history, paying attention to state standards for appropriate grade levels. The pedagogical strand will focus on six teaching methods related to the use of primary sources, historical thinking and communication. Using Response to Intervention and the Lesson Study process, teachers will develop lessons, assessments and other resources.

Teacher-generated lessons and materials as well as videos of cohort teachers using best practices will be published on three Web sites and publicized through professional conferences.

In these Tennessee districts, most students have demonstrated low achievement in social studies and U.S. history, and the history teachers do not have access to content-related professional development. Each year of the project, teachers will participate in four mini-institutes that provide historical thinking themes, such as perspective and sequencing. One of the institutes will feature a keynote presentation on different strategies, including using film or art in teaching. Teachers will attend a 2-day institute that includes visits to local sites and focus groups on various strategies, such as technology, use of student achievement data and National History Day. Hands-on learning experiences will be provided through summer institutes in Boston, Washington, D.C., and additional locations. The teachers will be paired in cohorts of 4th/8th grades and 5th/11th grades. The teachers will learn about founding documents, primary sources, local history resources, technology tools, National History Day and other research-based teaching strategies. A Web site will host the project's products, including videos of historian presentations using integrated hands-on activities, footage of teachers modeling proven teaching strategies and teacher-created materials, such as piloted lesson plans and primary source document readers organized by themes, eras and grade levels.

These contiguous Vermont districts are overwhelmingly rural, and some have above-average poverty rates. The project will organize its teaching fellows into four regional learning communities to help combat the rural isolation factor. Each learning community will have an experienced teacher who provides leadership and support. Teachers will discuss books, engage in primary source activities and look at student work. Fellows will be able to choose from additional activities that include providing professional development in their own or nearby districts, presenting at conferences, and publishing in the Flow of History newsletter. Summer institutes will begin in Year 2 and carry into the school year; teachers will select topics and begin historical inquiry during the institute, then continue the work with students in the classroom, thus working toward the project aim of building historical thinking skills. Each year, fellows will create portfolios of primary sources, activities and student work keyed to the historical content, historical thinking strategies and inquiry techniques discussed during the year. As teachers learn about major themes, issues and events in American history, they will learn to scaffold historical thinking skills that build from basic observation to more sophisticated forms of analysis and interpretation, culminating in conducting inquiry-based research. Staff from partner organizations, regional museums and historic sites will provide content information for workshops and field studies. Project activities will help teachers earn continuing education and graduate credits. The project's advisory board will use a rubric to review materials produced by teachers, and completed materials will be available online through Web sites managed by two project partners.

Turning Points in American History will serve 70 public schools and 27 independent schools in rural northwestern Vermont; based on a survey, many of the teachers in these schools have a limited knowledge of American history. This professional development program will provide opportunities for long-term partnerships with local and regional historical organizations by centering activities around local museums. Events will include (1) three scholar-led seminars per year to build teachers' content knowledge and chronological-thinking skills; (2) book and primary source study groups, which will focus on one historical era per year; (3) summer field studies at national sites and local historic sites and museums; and (4) teacher leadership institutes, which will encourage teachers to discuss content and pedagogy through shared experiences and the new digital classroom. This model will (1) create inquiry-based study groups for teaching content and historical thinking, (2) add existing knowledge for best practice for creating digital learning communities, (3) produce new lessons around teaching with historical sites, (4) institute new policies around peer-to-peer professional development, and (5) build strong school-museum partnerships. The teachers will pre-read historical materials and attend lectures followed by small-group discussions with the scholars, learn to analyze and interpret primary sources and develop writing assignments to exhibit historical-thinking skills, and post their interpretations to a digital classroom for peer feedback. The project will create a Web site that features exemplary activities, lectures and other resources created by the project; in addition, it will produce new curriculum resources, including lessons, units, streaming video of study groups, historical writing assignments and benchmarks.

Many students in this Utah district come from multigenerational, low-income families in rural communities spread across a large geographic area, including an American Indian reservation. Each year, project teachers will participate in monthly symposia, featuring lectures and reading assignments that examine key concepts, issues, questions and primary sources; monthly lesson study groups, focusing on pedagogy, research, assessment development, presentations and the historical investigation process; and studies of online collections and on-site field research at local sites. Four teachers also will attend the annual conference for the National Council for the Social Studies. In Years 3 and 5, all teachers will participate in a 5-day regional capstone field study. Annually, the project will serve 20 history teachers (half elementary and half secondary), each of whom may participate for up to three years. In addition, the history lectures and instructional resources will be open to all district teachers. The project's themes will be based on common threads across the Utah History Core and an assessment of teachers' needs. The strategies will include using expert historians and master history educators, embedding impactful pedagogical methods, and using local and national resources. The trainings will be supplemented with effective strategies that entwine continuous learning into teachers' daily routines, including professional learning communities, lesson study, one-on-one mentoring/coaching and virtual networks. Teachers also will have an opportunity to earn professional and master's degree credits. The teachers will create high-quality products, including standards-based curriculum units, mini-research projects involving primary sources and benchmarks, and common assessments for the new Utah History Standards.

This project's districts are located in north-central Utah, where a previous Teaching American History grant for middle and high school teachers was quite successful. To help elementary teachers become conversant and comfortable with teaching history, the project will engage participants in a 15-day seminar during their first year of participation. In subsequent years, shorter seminars and eight days of field study will be used to deliver content knowledge and methods training, and these will be bolstered every year by follow-up support and coaching. Three cohorts will convene in a tiered arrangement: Cohorts 1 and 3 will serve 30 teachers each from year-round schools, and Cohort 2 will serve 30 teachers from 9-month schools; Cohort 1 will begin in Year 1, Cohort 2 in Year 2, and Cohort 3 in Year 3, with all continuing through Year 5. By starting small, project leaders intend to take lessons learned about effective activities from the first cohort and apply them as remaining cohorts move into the project. All activities and instruction will focus on how the words and deeds of individuals shape history. During seminars, scholars and historians will guide learning of traditional American history, and the project director and a master teacher will lead methods sessions. Field visits will consist of explorations to local and national historic sites, and these will be guided by essential questions that prompt research and study. Throughout, teachers will collaborate to develop lesson units, podcasts, videos and other teaching resources. These materials will be shared on a project Web site and through the National History Education Clearinghouse.

Schools in this district serve students from some of Utah's most disadvantaged communities. More than 40 percent of the students are minorities, and 24 percent are considered limited English proficient. This project will build on the success and momentum of an existing Teaching American History grant. Each year, the project will include a 2-week teacher academy, which features content taught by historical experts, the modeling of best practices in instructional methodology, and hands-on research and group work; quarterly school-year workshops to ensure that participating teachers know the Utah History Core, can assess student learning and can modify their instruction to meet student needs; and quarterly collaborative study groups to help teachers identify needs, brainstorm and prioritize appropriate solutions, and implement those solutions. To address the needs of its diverse population, the project will extend professional development to 40 teachers per year; based on their needs and performances, teachers may participate for up to three years. The highest selection priority will be given to teachers who are not highly qualified, have taken few academic history courses and/or have not recently attended history-related trainings. The content will explore questions and enduring understandings of traditional American history that transcend all time periods, focusing on pivotal issues, events, turning points, documents, legislation and judicial cases. The project will integrate cross-curricular and life-skills strategies, engage teachers in lesson study and develop peer mentors/coaches. Participants will create high-quality resources, including primary source kits, integrated language arts lessons, history unit plans and in-service units, and comprehensive elementary history curriculum maps and benchmarks.

In this high-poverty area of southeastern Tennessee, approximately one-third of all high school students fail to attain proficiency in American history, and their teachers have no history professional development program. All participating teachers will receive at least 280 hours of professional development, with high implementation (HI) teachers receiving about 400 additional hours during three years of colloquia and practicums as well as several summer study trips. Of the 90 teachers involved, 20 will be designated as HI teachers; they will receive in-depth training, including Web-based courses, to become history leaders for the district. Another 20 partner teachers will participate in professional development and be mentored by HI teachers. The remaining 50 consortium teachers will receive professional development. The project's underlying theme is making connections—teachers will connect to one another, to professional historians and to historic sites and events, thus bringing heightened levels of knowledge and enthusiasm to their teaching. All professional development sessions will deliver content related to the topic for the year, with the goal of helping teachers learn to practice history as historians do; readings will be a mix of factual and fictional, selected to provide insights, perspectives and teaching tools. Instructional strategies will include using historical habits of mind, primary sources, backward mapping, authentic assessment, content-area reading, research and interpretation. Project-generated best practices, evaluation tools and lessons will be reviewed by history professors and state history specialists, then posted on three Web sites, including the Gilder Lehrman site, and promoted at professional conferences.

Like adjacent counties, this area of southeastern Tennessee is high poverty; many students leave high school with poor understandings of American history, and their teachers have no professional development program. All participating teachers will receive at least 280 hours of professional development, with high implementation (HI) teachers receiving about 400 additional hours during three years of colloquia and practicums as well as several summer study trips. Of the 170 teachers involved, 30 will be designated as HI teachers; they will receive in-depth training, including Web-based courses, to become history leaders for the district. Another 30 partner teachers will participate in professional development and be mentored by HI teachers. The remaining 110 consortium teachers will receive professional development. The project's underlying theme is making connections—teachers will connect to one another, to professional historians and to historic sites and events, thus bringing heightened levels of knowledge and enthusiasm to their teaching. All professional development sessions will deliver content related to the topic for the year, with the goal of helping teachers learn to practice history as historians do; readings will be a mix of factual (e.g., Joseph Ellis' Founding Brothers) and fictional (e.g., Arthur Miller's The Crucible), selected to provide insights, perspectives and teaching tools. Instructional strategies will include using historical habits of mind, primary sources, backward mapping, authentic assessment, content-area reading, research and interpretation. Project-generated best practices, evaluation tools and lessons will be reviewed by history professors and state history specialists, then posted on three Web sites, including the Gilder Lehrman site, and promoted at professional conferences.

Below-average student achievement has put these western Piedmont districts on the South Carolina improvement list. To work toward stronger practice, project teachers will participate in a speaker series, where presentations by historians will be accompanied by training in methods and curriculum development. Book clubs will focus on assigned readings, and weekend study tours will explore cities of historic significance. Summer institutes will provide immersive experiences of content and methods sessions, field studies, primary source research and hands-on learning. Teachers will learn to use primary sources, and they will conduct online discussions about their activities. The 60 teachers will come from the grades where state and American history are taught, although many activities will be open to all 250+ history teachers. Teaching American History in the Lakelands will emphasize the role of individuals in shaping U.S. history, often looking at people from both sides of an issue. Presenters will contextualize topics within the state standards so teachers can easily connect what they're learning to what they're teaching. In the first four years, the content will align with eras defined by the National Assessment of Education Progress, and eras will be covered in the order of need defined by teachers. Year 5 will make connections between state and national history across all eras. Project leaders have selected History Habits of Mind as the methods framework. Teachers will share their knowledge with colleagues through local workshops and at state and national conferences. They will create lesson plans, videotaped lessons, annotated bibliographies and other materials, which will be mounted on the project Web site.