MGP is a collaborative project between the University of Northern Colorado, Navajo Education Technology Consortium (NETC), and other distinguished partners to develop a national model for the integration of U.S. history and civics education. Moreover, the project incorporates local stories into the larger narrative of American history by including the Navajo Nation's history, government, and legal system. Over 5 years, MGP will serve 125 novice and veteran middle and high school teachers of U.S. history and civics from NETC—a network of 23 reservation school districts in the isolated Four Corners region of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah-that serves 85,000 students. Each year, a cohort of 25 teachers will attend the Summer Academy based out of two central locations: Week 1 at the University of Northern Colorado campus in Denver, Colorado and Week 2 at the University of Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Teachers will: (1) receive intensive and diverse opportunities to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for U.S. history and civics and be caught up to speed on best practices for history and civics education so they can teach it effectively to their students; (2) have hands-on opportunities to conduct research and historical inquiry, build their historical frame of reference, foster an interest in civic life, and generate ideas for classroom application; and (3) work with historians, political scientists, legal, and constitutional scholars, practitioners of law, master teachers, etc.

The Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs at Ashland University will conduct a five-year Presidential Academy for American History and Civics to lead secondary school teachers in a careful study of the pivotal turning points in American history. The study will be framed around three documents that raise the most significant issues of self-government in our constitutional democracy: the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, and the "I Have a Dream" speech. Participating Teachers will spend one week in Philadelphia, one week in Gettysburg, and one week in Washington, DC studying the American Revolution and Founding, the Civil War, and the Civil Rights movement, respectively. The program will expose participants to the ideas and arguments that shaped these three great American epochs, the documents that make up our history, and the places where the history was made. Thirty-five teachers will be selected and will be a combination of new and veteran teachers, middle and high school teachers, and history and civics teachers.