Echoes of the Past is a cooperative effort of the 49 K-12 districts in the Southwest Center for Educational Excellence (SCEE) consortium, the SCEE Education Center, the College of the Ozarks, the Ralph Foster Museum, and Silver Dollar City, a major historical Ozark village. The project engages 150 fourth through twelfth grade and pre-service teachers in a series of professional development activities focusing on the "underside" of American history between 1865 and 1917. Year 1 focuses on economic and industrial development through the eyes of Andrew Carnegie, Booker T. Washington, and Theodore Roosevelt. Year 2 explores urbanization, westward movement, and environmental issues. Year 3 adds the perspective of biographies of Samuel Gompers, Woodrow Wilson, and John Muir. Activities include fall short motivational content opportunities, spring semester-long content seminars, a week-long on-site summer institute, training for development of model instructional materials, training with a master teacher, and development of lesson plans.

"Documenting the Past" is a cooperative professional development effort of the LEA representing 49 school districts in the Southwest Center for Educational Excellence (SCEE) consortium, the SCEE Education Center, Missouri Southern State University, the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, the Powers Museum, and the George Washington Carver National Monument. The 150 participant teachers in Grades 4-12 will attend fall and spring content seminars in preparation for 5-10-day summer institutes, fall workshops to prepare instructional materials, and take day trips to historic sites. Topics include the following: Documenting the Revolution, Documenting the Cold War, Documenting the Early Republic, Documenting the Civil War, Origins of American Liberty, Documenting the Westward Movement, and Teaching the Constitution through the Federalist Papers. Instructional materials rich in primary sources will serve as a state model for history teachers.

A consortium of school districts in the Eastern Ozarks region is partnering with Southeast Missouri State University, the Missouri State Archives, the Southeast Missouri Council for the Social Studies, and the Southeast Regional Professional Development Center to strengthen U.S. history teachers' content knowledge, develop sustainable professional development models, increase student achievement in American history, and enhance the American history curricula across the school district consortium. The program will encourage the addition of AP history programs. Activities include Saturday seminars, readings, colloquia, interactive lecture sessions, discussion groups, seven to eight day historic site tours, visiting scholars, and the development of ongoing collaboration between teachers in Grades 7-12 and academic and public sector historians. Study segments focus on George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and the Foundations of the Federal Republic, and Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln: the Common Man and Preservation of the Union. Twentieth century presidencies are also covered, with segments such as FDR and Richard Nixon: 20th Century Government and the Modern World.

This collaboration brings together the Parkway and Rockwood School Districts with Webster University, Westminster College, Colonial Williamsburg, the Lincoln Home National Historic Site, the Center for the Study of the Civil War, Missouri's Civil War Heritage Foundation, the Organization of American Historians, and the Churchill Library and Museum. Other partners include presidential libraries and museums established for the study of Presidents Lincoln, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Clinton. Participating American history teachers from Grades 5 and 8 through 12 will increase their knowledge of traditional American history, create a network of professionals in the field, and craft classroom units that increase student levels of achievement. The professional development program includes lectures, discussions, book talks, and field trips. Content focuses on areas of American history required for targeted grades. For example, fifth grade teachers will focus on Colonial America. The use of primary materials will be emphasized throughout the program.

This collaboration to improve the teaching and learning of American history is comprised of St. Louis Public Schools, three departments of Washington University (History, African and Afro-American Studies, and Education), St. Louis Public Schools, Mercantile Libraries, the Missouri Historical Society, the St. Louis University School of Law, the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, the St. Louis Public Schools Foundation, and the Parsons Blewett Memorial Fund. All eleventh grade American history teachers at the 11 district high schools will participate. Annual professional development activities include a 30-hour American history course, support for related individual research projects through the Mercantile Scholars, and a five-day institute on instructional design and practice. Follow-up support is provided for classroom implementation and school-wide American history projects. The program examines the impact of the American Dream on economics, technology, education, and the commitment to equality. A special focus will be on how the U.S. Constitution has shaped the American dream over time. Program results will be used to craft and disseminate a model for teaching and learning American history at the high school level.