Three school districts in rural South Carolina are teaming with the History Department at Clemson University, Anderson County Historical Society, Anderson County Library, Social Studies Consulting Services, and South Carolina Museum to promote excellence in the teaching and learning of American history. The program targets teachers in grades 4 and 5 without history credentials for intensive professional development including school-year retreats; summer institutes; peer support; hands-on training and coaching; designing model classrooms; technology support; and after-school student-teacher extension groups. The summer institutes address: the 13 Colonies; American Revolution; Constitution; 18th century Virginia; Civil War; Reconstruction; Western Expansion; Native American experience; Freedom of Expression; World War I; Great Depression; New Deal; World War II; Race and Rights; Role of Anderson County; and major development from WWII to the present.

The project provides content-driven professional development for American History teachers in grades 4, 5, 8, and 11 through summer institutes and post-institute support in three regions of South Carolina. Participants receive 30 hours of content instruction, 15 hours of cultural institution collaboration, and 15 hours of method instruction. The project is aimed at helping teachers to develop innovative teaching techniques through use of local primary sources, and connecting national history to local and regional events, people and places. Historians provide master scholar sessions with documentary and material cultural resources relating to historical themes, and work with teacher participants to create lesson plans, which are published online. Graduate research assistants from the University of South Carolina assist in gathering materials and conducting research for teachers. Year 1 focuses on Exploration and Settlement through the Civil War; Year 2 on Reconstruction to the Post-Cold War; and Year 3 on Selected Themes.

For this three-year project, northeastern South Carolina's Horry County Schools will join the National Paideia Center, Southeastern Region Vision for Education (SERVE), National Humanities Center (NHC), Center for Gifted Education, Francis Marion University, Furman University, and the Coastal Carolina University. Each summer, 40 teachers will participate in a staff development program that includes the study of primary source documents, backward planning unit design, and online seminar toolboxes, as well as training in the Paideia instructional model. Seminars will focus on the latest historiography, major historical debates, and primary documents. The project's goals are to (1) design, pilot, and institutionalize a three-year staff development model; (2) develop methods for working with school administrators to support this model; and (3) design and implement an instructional review process. Seminar content will be based upon NHC online toolboxes The first toolbox features living in Revolutionary America from 1789-1820. The second addresses tensions produced by expansion and sectionalism. The third examines challenges faced by African-Americans from 1877 to 1920. Within the next few years, the NHC will develop a library of other toolboxes spanning the entire range of American history.

This professional development in American History project involves all teachers of history in District One's grades 3-12, with additional participation in some activities by other history teachers in other districts. It responds to a priority need expressed by 90% of 80 teachers surveyed. Designed to dovetail with the district's Vertical Teaming initiative in which consecutive grade-level teachers structure course content to prevent duplication, the project offers three American History courses for graduate credit, one technology-based course, two ten-day and three three-day institutes, observations of exemplary history teachers, consultations with master scholars, site visits, networking through participation in professional historical association, individual subscriptions to professional literature, and establishment of a website for instructional materials. Partnering with the District are the University of South Carolina at Spartanburg's History and Education Departments and Spartanburg County Historical Association. Content will focus on periods of American history emphasizing key documents and associated events and individuals. Two sections of an American History Documents course will be offered at each high school each semester.

This project trains teachers during two-week summer sessions, creates mentoring relationships during the year, and develops sustainable methods to carry on student learning. Summer institutes develop content knowledge and instruction in American history, which is taught in grades 3, 8, and 11. Of the 25 teachers who participate each year, 5 serve as mentors for the others. Each year, the summer institute focuses on a different period-the early years, 19th century, and 20th century-and person-centered themes-including, Native Americans, Mary Rowlandson and frontier families, Benjamin Franklin and the fight for independence, Thomas Jefferson and republicanism, Frederick Douglass and slavery, Abraham Lincoln and preserving the union, Susan B. Anthony and woman suffrage, Theodore Roosevelt and conservation, Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal, Eleanor Roosevelt and human rights, Martin Luther King and the fall of Jim Crow. The school district's partner is the Sumter County Museum.

This consortium made up of Winthrop University and seven school districts in four counties aims to examine the importance of and improve American History instruction by teachers in grades 4, 5, 8, and 11. Annual summer institutes focus in year 1 on American beginnings to 1877, in year 2 on 1877 to the present, and in year 3 on "vertical articulation from beginnings to present," a thematic study of American history. Quarterly follow-up sessions are held at local historic sites including Historic Brattonsville, Andrew Jackson State Park, Catawba Indian Nation, Cornwallis House, and Mount Dearborn Military Establishment. Partners are Winthrop University, University of South Carolina, local country libraries, and local historic commissions in each county. The professional development program emphasizes technological resources, lesson plan development, and curriculum alignment teams to establish professional networks. A steering committee representing districts in this Piedmont area of South Carolina will help guide the project, attend segments of summer institutes and historic site visits, and coordinate virtual field trips for history teachers.

Richland School District is the lead district on this project involving a consortium of districts encompassing three regions of South Carolina. This project provides professional development for American history teachers within these three regions through the establishment of a three-year series of summer institutes taught by historians. The main goal of the project is to help teachers develop innovative teaching techniques through the use of local primary sources and to connect national history to local and regional events, people and places. A second goal is to create regional networks of teachers who will serve as mentors to other teachers. Partners include the University of South Carolina Public History Program, the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, South Carolina State Museum, and South Carolina State Parks system.

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.

Eleven schools in this district had failure rates exceeding 70 percent on South Carolina's 2008-09 U.S. History High School End of Course assessment. To meet the needs of teachers as identified through assessment and anecdotal data, the project will offer two 2-day colloquia focused on historical content aligned with teachers' instructional assignments, ongoing instructional planning to help teachers share knowledge and resources, and a summer institute that combines historical content, pedagogy and field studies at historic sites in South Carolina. During five days of field studies outside of South Carolina, master educators will model how to convey content in classrooms using effective methods, including primary documents, artifact research, the incorporation of literature to help young students grasp historical complexity and learning/digital technologies. The project will involve 50 teachers per year: 30 from the 4th and 5th grades in an elementary cohort, and 20 from the 8th and 11th grades in a middle/high school cohort. The Palmetto Project: Perspectives in American History will include direct content instruction in the eight National Assessment of Educational Progress historical periods, effective pedagogy for content instruction and the production of high-quality resources. The project curriculum will focus on traditional American history and correlate to South Carolina educational standards, with an emphasis on the Civil War. The project will help teachers use primary documents and integrate technology into classroom instruction as they apply pedagogical methods based on effective practices. Some participants will present at regional and national conferences. A project Web site will share teacher-developed lesson plans and resources, and the project evaluation findings will be published.

These adjoining northwestern South Carolina districts share the challenge of students who are unprepared in history; the majority of middle and high school students fail to achieve proficiency on standardized and end-of-course history exams. During the school year, teachers will establish school-based professional learning teams, conduct book studies and attend several 1-day and 5-day workshops; in the summer, teachers will participate in a 5-day summer symposium and a 4- to 5-day traveling history institute. All events will deliver content and pedagogy, and the summer institutes will include activities focused on developing classroom curriculum. All middle and high school teachers of American history in the two districts will participate in this project with the goals of learning to think like historians and translating this skill to their students. As the learning moves from Reconstruction to the present, content will emphasize the struggles and perspectives of women and cultural minorities and their contributions to shaping American history. Instructional strategies will focus on using primary sources, aligning instruction to standards, developing critical thinking skills and thinking like a historian. Professional learning teams will also develop teachers' skills around using student data and analyzing student work. A project Web site will house all teacher-created materials and links to relevant sites, making them available to all teachers.