| Grantee Name: | Cleveland County Schools |
| Project Name: | Foundation of America History Fellowship |
| Project Director: | Robert Brown |
| Funding: | $999,843 |
| Number of Teachers Served: | 90 |
| Number of School Districts Served: | 2 |
| Number of Students Served: | 28,000 |
| Grade Levels: | Grades K-8 |
| Partners: | University of North Carolina - Greensboro, American Institute for History Education, Core Knowledge Foundation, Learners Online |
| Topics: | Year 1: Building an English America; Year 2: Empire vs. the Colonies; Year 3: Agrarian South and Industrialized North |
| Methods: | Summer institutes, field studies, history academies |
The Foundation of America History Fellowship seeks to implement a unique sustainable model of professional development that will enhance the content knowledge and educational methodology of elementary and middle school American history teachers. This project will serve 90 teachers of American history in Grades K through 8. Participating teachers will be given background assignments throughout the year, will attend fall and spring colloquia and summer seminars, and will participate in on-site field experiences focusing on five major periods of American history. Teachers will be immersed in content seminars, discussions, experiential learning, and historical research led by scholars that are recognized experts in their field. Teachers, led by scholars and educational experts, will develop curriculum based on the field experiences, colloquia, and summer seminars that are centered on teaching traditional American history and the historical thinking skills needed for student understanding. The historical topics will include English antecedent documents, colonial America, the American Revolution, the Constitutional Convention, the War of 1812, and secession and slavery, among others.
| Grantee Name: | Guilford County Schools |
| Project Name: | Building Bridges: Advancing the Teaching of American History in Guilford County |
| Project Director: | Jonathan McRae |
| Funding: | $919,762 |
| Number of Teachers Served: | 90 |
| Number of School Districts Served: | 1 |
| Number of Students Served: | 68,951 |
| Grade Levels: | Grades 5, 8,11 |
| Partners: | University of North Carolina - Greensboro, Colonial Williamsburg, National Constitution Center, Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |
| Topics: | Year 1: Colonial America; Year 2: American Revolution; Year 3: Constitution |
| Methods: | Summer institutes, mentoring, seminars |
Building Bridges: Advancing the Teaching of American History in Guilford County seeks to develop, implement, and strengthen programs to teach traditional American history as a separate academic subject (not as a component of social studies) within secondary school curricula. The Bridge Project will accomplish this goal through an intensive series of content-specific professional development programs led by history education specialists from respected institutions of higher education, non-profit historical organizations, and history museums. Thirty teachers will be invited to participate in the project. This annual cohort will include ten teachers from each grade served by the project. These teachers will be recruited from schools with low student achievement that mailed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress goals. Among the historical topics covered will be Native American history, the colonial period, the American Revolution, and the Constitutional Convention.
