Grantee: Educational Service District 101, Spokane, WA
Project Name: Pathways to History: From Local Perspectives to National Understanding
Project Director: Helene Paroff (509) 789-3539
Funding: $745,311
Number of Teachers Served: 140
Number of School Districts Served: 3
Number of Students Served: 700

"Pathways to History" partners a 7-county rural district with Eastern Washington University's (EWU) Living History Institute for Teaching American History and Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture to provide workshops, distance learning, and on-campus study for 60 teacher participants and 80 additional teachers served by new Teachers as Historians networks. The project builds instructional skills; encourages study of U.S. history as a lifelong pursuit; provides access to websites and museum collections; encourages teachers to incorporate Geographical Information System adventures into classrooms; and increases artifacts' use in pre-service history education. The curriculum focuses on local history to deepen understanding of national events: Year 1, Roads, Trails and Journeys, dealing with migration; Year 2, Mingling of Peoples, focusing on immigrants; Year 3, Northwest Hometowns and the Nation, including the Depression of 1893, Spanish-American War, World War I, and Influenza Epidemic of 1919.

Grantee: Educational Service District 112, Vancouver, WA
Project Name: Engaging the American Past
Project Director: Jon Nelson (360) 750-7500
Funding: $994,611
Number of Teachers Served: 744
Number of School Districts Served: 30
Number of Students Served: No information available

The project will engage 240 in-service and 24 pre-service teachers in at least 80 schools, grades K-12, in summer institutes and evening seminars as members of an American Past Leadership Corps. Linked activities include historical content, interpretation methods, and teaching strategies designed to develop teacher leaders. An additional 480 teachers will receive training and mentoring, participate in colloquia, and use project materials. Washington State University-Vancouver, Vancouver School District, Vancouver National Historic Reserve, and the Center for Columbia River History are partnering with the service district to provide sustained staff development. Based on an overarching theme, "Becoming American in the Pacific Northwest," subject matter will range from the Lewis and Clark expedition and movement of African-Americans from the South during World War II, to contemporary immigration from East Asia and Latin America. Issues of democracy and diversity will be grounded in specific historical periods. The state's interactive video system, K-20, will transmit lessons by Leadership Corps teachers to peers and pre-service teachers.