Grantee: Hattiesburg Public School District, Hattiesburg, MS
Project Name: Teaching American History
Project Director: Charles Bolton/Mary Beth Farrell (601) 266-4333 / (601) 266-4334
Funding: $858,139
Number of Teachers Served: 36
Number of School Districts Served: 12
Number of Students Served: 38,914

Working with the University of Southern Mississippi, the National Council for History Education and museums, the district will provide a professional development program for 8^th-11^th grade teachers drawn from 12 LEAs. The program features 12 two-day colloquia during the school year and 3 two-week summer institutes led by historians, master teachers, history education specialists, and museum historians and archivists. Teachers will be paired to develop lesson plans and presentations focused on "Essential Questions" of historical inquiry. An expanded website will extend accessibility of project resources and products to all educators.

Grantee: Starkville School District, Starkville, Mississippi
Project Name: Project Impact
Project Director: Janet C. Henderson (662) 324-4050
Funding: $1,000,000
Number of Teachers Served: 30
Number of School Districts Served: 9
Number of Students Served: 33,390

The Starkville Public School District is the primary district for Project Impact, a collaborative effort that includes eight other school districts in Northeast Mississippi. The historical content partner for the project is the Mississippi State University Department of History. The project's centerpiece is the completion of a Master of Arts degree by a cadre of 30 middle and high school teachers to make them scholars of history. The cadre will disseminate their increased content knowledge available to other teachers through mentoring and coaching, district curriculum teams, and study groups at each teacher's school. The period survey courses they will study will include the interwoven social, political, economic, and geographic changes in U. S. history. The courses will emphasize the great ideas, turning points, critical issues, and key individuals of American History. Colloquia will provide each teacher in-depth study of themes, events, individuals, and topics.

Grantee: Winona Separate School District, Winona, MS
Project Name: Project Living History
Project Director: Marsha N. Cummings (662) 283-1065
Funding: $525,532
Number of Teachers Served: 25
Number of School Districts Served: 2
Number of Students Served: 974

To strengthen knowledge and appreciation of American history by teachers and students, a consortium of Winona Separate School and Montgomery County School Districts will partner with Mississippi Valley State University and National Council for History Education to provide a model professional development program for all U.S. history teachers in grades 7-12. Participants attend a summer history academy, receive individual and group instruction on pedagogy, serve as mentors to new U.S. history teachers, and document best practices. Instructional skills training emphasizes concrete, hands-on teaching tailored to individuals, including students with limited English proficiency and learning disabilities. Content covers events within broad themes: Three Worlds and Their Encounters in America (beginnings to 1607); Colonial Era and Emerging American Identity (1607-1763); Creating a Nation (1763-1815); Expansion and Reform (1801-1860); Civil War and Reconstruction (1860-1877); Making of Modern America (1865-1920); U.S. and Two World Wars (1914-1945); and Contemporary America (1945-present).