The professional development program aims to prepare two cohorts of teachers who will change the way American history is taught in the district's high-risk schools. Recruited from schools cited for intervention, a cohort of 75 elementary grade teachers (25 each in Grades 3-5) will be prepared in content and pedagogy to improve student performance. A second cohort of 25 teachers who have completed three years of an earlier TAH initiative will earn master's degrees in U.S. history, making them "Cognitive Contractors" working to improve history teaching in their own schools and serving as mentors. To build a deeper understanding of traditional American history, the trained cohort will use a model that layers California history standards with themes and ideas from the Open Court Reading Series.

The project aims to lessen the wide achievement gap in American history between those proficient in English and those who are not. Teachers will learn how to lower language barriers by providing models for the strategic application of language development to history texts. They also will learn to analyze sources for historical value and accessibility to English learners and low-literacy students, developing source-specific reading and writing skills, and keeping students fully involved in subject-matter discussions. Content and literacy instruction will provide teachers with the tools they need to increase student achievement.

In 2004, the state piloted its first California Standards Test (CST) in history and social science. Results showed that all schools in Los Angeles performed at a lower level than the state average. The picture was bleaker for Hispanic, English language learners, and African American students, who had the lowest rates of students performing at a proficient or advanced level. The project's target schools serve these exact populations-approximately 75% of students in the five schools are Hispanic and 19% are African American. The project's overall goal is to provide a meaningful, memorable thematic lens through which teachers can view the major ideas, people, and decisive moments in our nation's historic struggle to realize the ideals of our democracy. Focusing on historical inquiry and use of primary sources, teachers will study democracy, constitutional government, national identity, and citizenship. Project administrators hope to raise the schools' CST American history scores to "proficient" by 2009.

Located in Los Angeles County, Lynwood students are among the neediest in the nation. Over 70% live in poverty, nearly 46% are English language learners, and only 27% of 11th grade students passed the California exit exam in 2005. The professional development in this three-year plan will deepen and expand teachers' knowledge of history, develop their historical thinking, and improve their means of engaging their students in the study of American history. This project also aims to increase teachers' knowledge and understanding of discipline-specific instructional approaches to teaching history including literacy skills that are critically needed to access the content. Projected outcomes of the program include higher student achievement on state and district assessments of American history knowledge and on the AP U.S. history exam. Other outcomes include increased student achievement in history and in literacy at schools that did not meet Adequate Yearly Progress standards and deeper content knowledge for teachers who did not major in U.S. history.

Montebello Unified serves a high-poverty, diverse student population. Only half of its elementary schools, none of its middle schools, and two of three high schools met Adequate Yearly Progress. This 36-month project has been divided into two 18-month tracks. Activities will take place throughout the 18-month period to ensure that the project serves the year round schools in the district, where many of the teachers with less seniority are assigned. Project designers elected to provide opportunities for teachers to use knowledge and skills gained immediately in the classroom. The project establishes a district-based teaching American history professional development center where a master teacher assigned to the project will support teachers in planning professional development activities on an ongoing basis.

Of 8th grade American history teachers in the participating districts, 71% did not major in the subject. Sixty-four percent of 8th grade students and 60% of 11th grade students scored below or far below basic in history on the 2005 California Standards Test; on the same tests, only 6% of English language learners scored proficient. Teachers in this project will increase their knowledge of American history by working closely with history scholars, curriculum specialists, district leadership, mentor/lead teachers and organizations with content area expertise. Professional development project activities and products will be provided using technology-based strategies to teach and learn American history in the 21st century. Participants will be engaged in accessing, researching, analyzing, and evaluating primary source documents, and using digital media to support the teaching of American history.

Of the 64 11th grade U.S. history teachers in the partner districts, only 12 (19%) have degrees in history. TAHII will promote and strengthen the teaching of 8th and 11th grade American history teachers to affect positively student achievement as measured by student standards-based content knowledge surveys and the state test. Participating teachers will meet for monthly scholarly seminars with presentations on topics related to major trends in the history of American foreign policy, with the intention of increasing their effectiveness with students. The six sessions will begin in September and end in May with the culminating event, a student town meeting on American foreign policy. The project will also provide opportunities for teachers to forge on-going relationships with scholars and curators, archivists, and education staff from participating historical organizations.

The participating school districts have not demonstrated high levels of performance in state assessments in history—over half of the students in three of the four districts fail to perform at the "proficient" level. Districts with the highest level of Hispanic and African-American students and English language learners have the lowest levels in history performance. WTMA2 builds on a previous program that brought professional development activities to elementary school teachers of American history. This project will develop teacher-mentors who will take on leadership roles to advance the work of their colleagues who teach American history to diverse populations of students at risk for failure in school.

In 2005, only 38% of 8th, 10th, and 11th grade students in the two participating districts scored at or above the proficient level in state history/social science tests. Only 20% of economically disadvantaged students and 7% of English language learners reached the proficient level. This project's sustained discipline-specific training will equip U.S. history teachers in grades 5, 8, and 11 with a greater knowledge of our nation's history, a deep understanding of the discipline of history, and a vast toolbox of strategies. Trained teachers will be better prepared to engage their students in historical inquiry, lead them in the analysis of primary documents crucial to an appreciation and understanding of American history, and create the kind of memorable instruction critical for preparing all students to become tomorrow's citizens.

In San Bernardino and San Joaquin, 70% or more of the students are "below proficient" on state American history assessments at the 8th and 11th grades, while in Orange County it is closer to half. The U.S. is the most religiously diverse nation in the world, and the most religious among the developed nations. Many teachers shy away from coverage of religion and its importance because they have received little information on the subject in college, or are worried that they will deal with highly charged topics incorrectly and will offend students and/or create political issues for their schools. This project will train a cadre of teacher leaders who will build the capacity of their schools and districts to teach about the evolution of religious liberty in the United States, and pivotal issues and events in American history reflecting the influence of religion on society. Institute scholars will include historians, religion experts, constitutional scholars and specialists on the proper methods for teaching about religion. The institute participants will implement and then write lessons about the influence of religion on key events and movements of American history such as colonial settlement, the War for Independence, settlement of the west, and the various waves of social reform in the 19th and 20th Centuries.