This project will serve the public schools of Queens, where nearly 50 percent of 8th-graders have failed the Intermediate Social Studies test and 25 percent of high school students have failed the U.S. History and Government Regents exam. Each year, the project teachers will attend eight 1-day workshops, in which professional historians examine how people have shaped events through interactions, collaborations and conflicts; the teachers will align this content with pedagogical skills and will receive classroom materials, books and history resources, with an emphasis on biographies. An annual 5-day summer institute will cover topics too large in scope to be addressed in a 1-day workshop and will feature field trips to New York City sites. The first cohort of 30 teachers will participate for the first two years, followed by a second cohort of 30 teachers over the next two years. During the fifth year, 30 teachers—selected from the two cohorts—will participate in eight full-day Master American History workshops. The project activities will show teachers how to align content with the New York State Core Curriculum in U.S. history by using strategies that students find engaging, such as curating museum exhibits, writing newspaper articles, role playing and oral history. The teachers also will learn to use media, library and museum collections, and maps; modify primary sources for different learning levels; plan effective field trips; differentiate learning for students with diverse needs and backgrounds; and find easily accessible resources. The teachers' lesson plans and materials will be disseminated through the project's Open Educational Resources Commons Web site.

This large district represents a diverse cross section of students and faculty across New York City. Each year of the project, up to 32 teachers (some continuing for more than 1 year) will participate in (1) a 3-day staff development workshop, which will demonstrate effective methods for teaching American history through historic sites in Philadelphia, New York City and elsewhere in New York state; (2) two 3-hour summer and two 3-hour Saturday workshops, in which teachers will practice using multimedia equipment at the new DiMenna Children's History Museum; and (3) a 3-day summer and a 3-day Saturday workshop to help middle and high school teachers convey the proper historiography skills to prepare their students for participation in National History Day. In addition to the outlined topics and historic site visits, the participants will receive guided tours of these New York Historical Society temporary exhibits: "Life for a Child: Insulin"; "John Rogers: American Stories"; "Swing Time: Reginald Marsh and Thirties New York"; and "New York in World War II." The project will focus on using multimedia and news broadcasting to disseminate facts about historic events, conducting extensive research via public and museum library resources, and engaging students in debates on historical topics and time periods. The strategies will include historical instructional methodologies, differentiated instruction tied to content, and flexible approaches to address various student needs, such as using picture symbols to facilitate communication. Project products will be shared online; these will include lesson plans, alternative assessments, student portfolios and video productions of students and staff.