The People and Places consortium is in southern Illinois just east of the Mississippi River and near St. Louis. It has 23 schools in need of improvement, corrective action, or restructuring. Many elementary teachers do not have history teaching endorsements. Secondary teachers who participated in a previous Teaching American History grant will mentor elementary teachers as they design lessons and create Web-based portfolios related to the content of seminars, summer institutes, study tours to historical sites, and other activities. Participants will network with teachers outside the project and with preservice teachers in quarterly reading seminars, Web-supported discussions, and 1-day workshops. People and Places is designed to support the elementary teachers who introduce students to their first experience with U.S. history. To this end, it hopes to develop at least one teacher leader per building in consortium schools. Three cohorts of 40 teachers will participate for three years each and experience identical content organized around the theme of exploring the nation through the historical contexts that shaped and transformed its ideological heritage. During this exploration, teachers will engage in rigorous, research-based strategies such as higher level questioning and differentiating for different ability levels, integrating technology into teaching and learning, and applying historical thinking skills. The content of this professional development will rely in part on local and national primary sources, and teachers will learn how to turn their classrooms into historical laboratories. People and Places participants will share units of study they develop during the project and join a county-wide cadre to improve American history education.

Located in a rural town near Boise, the Kuna district is in its fifth year of improvement: only one of eight district schools made Adequate Yearly Progress in 2007-2008. In project Year 1, master teacher trainees will spend 175 hours in field studies, collaboration with partners, workshops, book studies, and design of summer institutes for subsequent years. Thereafter, teachers will receive more than 75 hours of research-based professional development as they participate in workshops, book studies, and summer institutes. Year 1 will develop four master teachers; Years 2 to 5 will bring in about 35 more teachers overall. The project goal is to develop 19 teacher-leaders and approximately 20 additional teachers with strong content knowledge, pedagogical background, and resources. The underlying purpose of the Struggles and Resilience project is to develop American history as a separate academic subject that is supported by resident historians and pedagogical experts. In Year 1, master teachers will participate in individualized and collaborative field study, primary source research, and intense learning sessions with local and national history experts. In the following years, the master teachers will work with historians and other educators to help participating teachers build their content knowledge and instructional skills. History content will draw connections between traditional American history and state and local histories. Pedagogy will be based on nine essential strategies outlined in Classroom Instruction That Works. Participating teachers will earn college credits and/or history endorsements or certifications. All district teachers will benefit from lesson plans created during project activities.

Within the districts in this northeast Georgia region, 15 schools did not make Adequate Yearly Progress in 2008, and 13 schools are in need of improvement. On the 2008 history tests for Grades 4, 8, and high school, 35 percent or more of the region’s students did not meet state standards. Teaching American History in Georgia's Classic Region will expand teachers' content knowledge and help them develop their pedagogical skills. Seminars, field studies, and summer institutes will be led by historians and master educators who will help teachers gain an increased appreciation of traditional American history. Professional Learning Communities, meeting both face-to-face and online, will collaborate to create lesson plans. A cohort of 60 teachers will include 30 from Grades 3-5 and 30 from middle and high schools; priority will be given to teachers from the schools most in need of improvement. Instructional strategies for this project include Understanding by Design and using historical thinking skills. Each year, these will be applied to content from the selected topic area/historical period. The project will produce technology-based collaborative instructional units that incorporate primary sources, local history resources, Web sites, and databases. All units will be reviewed by an advisory board and mounted on the project Web site to share with teachers in Georgia and across the nation. In addition, materials related to the book studies, blogs, podcasts, lectures, and presentations will be available online for all teachers in the project service area. In addition, teachers will conduct model demonstration lessons in their local schools and districts to sustain the project's impact over time.

The two metro-Atlanta districts participating in this project include several schools identified as in need of improvement, and one district has not made Adequate Yearly Progress for four years: student scores on state and other standardized tests have been below state averages. Building Connections teachers will interact with historians and colleagues from different grade levels as they attend summer institutes and evening lectures and visit national and local historic sites and archival facilities. Small cohorts will meet during the school year to discuss content and instruction and to collaborate on assignments. Stipends and a competitive application process will be used to recruit 250 Tier 1 teachers (50 per cohort, with one cohort in Year 1, two cohorts in Year 2, and two cohorts in Year 3) and 50 Tier 2 teachers (one cohort for three years, starting in Year 1), with preference given to those from low-performing schools. Throughout the project, themes will center on placing significant individuals, events, and issues into the context of our nation's foundation and civic ideals. Around this content, Building Connections will help teachers learn to integrate several instructional approaches into their practice, such as using nonfiction materials and primary source documents, conducting research, using technology, and incorporating history into reading and writing. During the 5-year project, each Tier 1 teacher will compile a portfolio that includes lesson plans, primary sources, visuals, portraits, and objects. Tier 2 teachers will produce learning packages that include lesson plans, artifacts, and primary documents. All lesson plans will be compiled and shared with other teachers.

Located in the Atlanta metro area, this district's students are predominantly minority, ethnically and linguistically diverse, and from low-income families. Twenty-five of its 125 schools are in need of improvement. SHIFT participants will interact with respected historians at annual kick-off events, through two hybrid graduate-level courses each year, and during annual summer academies located at historical sites. Teachers will have funding to gather resources for their classroom libraries during field experiences and will receive other resources during SHIFT activities. The project will serve five cohorts of 30 teachers each, with teachers coming from all school levels and each cohort participating for two years. SHIFT will explore a variety of themes, including interactions of peoples, cultures, and ideas; change and continuity in American democracy; and the changing role of America in the world. Instructional strategies will focus on applying thoughtful exploration and critical analysis to understand history, and on making history an engaging, immersive, and relevant academic subject. Teachers will reflect, collaborate, and refer to the SHIFT blueprint for guidance on building an ideal classroom environment for history teaching and learning. Teachers who complete the professional development will have classroom libraries with multimedia resources, an expanded repertoire of teaching practices, deeper content knowledge, and collegial relationships that will support their future practice.

Volusia County is located in central Florida and includes Daytona Beach. The suburban school district serves a growing Hispanic population and includes 56 schools that have not achieved Adequate Yearly Progress in reading and math. Each year, through the Preserving Our Nation fellowship program, participating teachers will receive professional development during a 1-day fall colloquium; a 3-day winter colloquium; a 2-day field-study trip; four and a half days of directed historical research and lesson development; classroom coaching; and a 5-day summer institute. Supplemental resources, including the American Institute for History Education’s monthly Talking History Webinars, and online access to CICERO teaching resources, will be available to all teachers in the district. The program will serve 40 fellows, including five teacher leaders who will deliver turnkey sessions for history teachers throughout the district. Each teacher leader will attend a certified Advanced Placement training course and a week-long turnkey training. Teachers will explore how geography, economics, and political thought contributed to events in traditional American history. Classroom instruction will incorporate CICERO, an online compilation of multimedia history resources; the Binary Paideia approach for developing historical thinking; and the American Institute for History Education’s Signature Strategies for delivering effective, grade-appropriate instruction. The project will publish a compilation of its events, teaching resources, and fellow-created materials (such as virtual field trips and lesson plans) on a Web site.

The School District of Manatee County, located on Florida's west coast, includes 33 elementary schools, eight of which are Title I schools that have not achieved Adequate Yearly Progress for multiple years. Across the district, recent student performance in American history has been poor. The Foundations of Freedom Liberty Fellowship (Foundations) will give priority to teachers in low-performing elementary schools and provide 14 days of professional development each year: a 2-day fall colloquium, a 3-day winter colloquium, a 2-day study trip, four half-days of research and review, and a 5-day summer institute. A technology-enabled classroom coaching program will help participating teachers refine their lesson design and delivery. All 170 of the district’s teachers in Grades 3-5 will be encouraged to attend Talking History Webinars once a month and will have online access to CICERO teaching resources. Foundations will accommodate 40 fellows each year. Five experienced teachers from the initial cohort will be trained as teacher-leaders, and they will replicate portions of the fellowship training to help all district history teachers create engaging history lessons and activities. The thematic focus will be on how geography, economics, and political thought have contributed to events in traditional American history. Strong emphasize will be given to teachers and students reading and discussing American history issues, documents, events, and personalities. Teachers will be trained to use the American Institute for History Education's Signature Strategies, including the Binary Paideia approach, to promote historical thinking and enhance classroom instruction. Historical narratives, "virtual field tours," and other teacher-created resources will be posted on the project Web site.

Located on Florida's Gulf Coast, Sarasota County has several elementary schools with a diverse student population in need of improvement. Casting the Net teachers will participate in summer institutes, book studies, and independent studies as they work with partners and historian mentors to develop a rubric for historical quality, revise curriculum, and build learning materials. Summer institutes will focus on NAEP eras, and related book study topics will be determined as the project progresses. Annual cohorts, with an expected enrollment of 25 teachers each year, will be open to all county teachers and pre-service teachers in Grades 5-12 who teach, or expect to teach, history. The project's overarching theme is to cast a net to the next generation of Americans and engage them in examining the relationships among national, state, and local history to create a dynamic picture that provides relevance and sets a context for studying the past and learning from experience. Casting the Net content and instruction will focus on incorporating critical reading strategies, primary sources, and technology into history instruction, and using research to develop materials and lessons that are relevant and hands-on. To this end, the project will provide mini-grants for action research and independent studies. With project staff and the steering committee, teachers will contribute to a new district curriculum that aligns with new state standards and that fosters rigorous study of American history. They will also create high-quality, field-tested learning materials and kits to accompany the core texts and a collection of video case studies that demonstrate student learning using engaging materials.

Polk County Public Schools in central Florida includes 37 elementary schools identified by the state as being in need of Improvement. The district serves a growing number of Spanish-speaking migrant students whose knowledge of American history is limited. To meet the needs of elementary and secondary American history teachers, Our Heritage: Our Future will offer a dual-track program of professional development. Track 1 (Grade 5) teachers will participate in a summer institute consisting of a 3-day colloquium, a day with a historian, and a 5-day field study; a 2-day spring training on using Reader's Theater and primary sources; a 1-day fall seminar on a history topic; a 1-day curriculum alignment workshop; regular online "meet the historian" mini-courses; and lesson development activities. Track 2 (Grades 8 and 11) will involve teachers in a variety of day-long and after-school professional development events and collegial learning. Track 1 will include 144 teachers (one 36-member group a year for 4 years, followed by a year of collegial work and delivery of district wide professional development). Following the same pattern of cohort engagement, Track 2 will expand the district's existing teacher-leader development network. In addition, eight to 12 teacher leaders will revise district curriculum maps based on new Florida American History standards. Our Heritage: Our Future will involve teachers and students in reading and experiencing American history to help them become more informed, productive citizens. Classroom instruction based on the Learning-Focused Strategies model will emphasize vocabulary in context, visual tools such as graphic organizers, and Reader's Theater. Teachers will create lesson plans and materials for district-wide dissemination.

Miami-Dade County has many students from immigrant or first-generation families and many teachers who feel underprepared to teach American history. Teaching American History activities will address these needs in a variety of ways. Elementary teachers will meet for six Saturday workshops, a one-week summer institute, and two online workshops on using Web lessons. Intensive study teachers will have seven 2-day workshops, and master teachers will complete a 3-year program to earn 30 graduate credits. The three types of cohorts will be constructed as follows: elementary cohorts will include 30 teachers, with a new group participating each year of the project; intensive study cohorts will have 30 different teachers each year for four years; and the master teachers cohort will consist of 20 teachers who participate for three and a half years. An overall goal of the project is to build capacity within the district, and the three types of cohorts will enable both immediate improvement in the classrooms and long-term support for history teaching. During elementary workshops, everything will be structured around essential questions: historians will present content and discuss its application in the classroom, and then participants will complete project-specific assignments. During five intensive study workshops, teachers will focus on content; the remaining two workshops will address instructional strategies. The master teachers program will include 10 graduate-level courses and an original research paper. In Years 2 to 5, scholar-guided travel will take 20 participants to national historical sites for five to seven days. The Professional Learning Communities that develop among cohort members will contribute to sustaining and expanding the project's impact.