Grantee: Educational Service Unit #2, Fremont, NE
Project Name: American Independence - Myths and Realities
Project Director: Diane M. Wolfe (402) 721-7710
Funding: $999,998
Number of Teachers Served: No information available
Number of School Districts Served: 1
Number of Students Served: No information available

Teachers from 40 schools throughout northeast Nebraska will participate in this three-year program offered collaboratively by Educational Service Unit #2, Wayne State College, and the Eastern Nebraska Distance Learning Consortium. Scholars of U.S. history will help participants explore the myths and realities concerning U.S. and Native American struggles for independence during this country's formative period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The program seeks to form a cadre of educators dedicated to improving American history instruction. Teachers will conduct graduate-level coursework and develop and post online lesson plans to be used by teachers across the nation. They also will create an online American history course to be delivered through Wayne State College for the duration of the project and beyond. The program's success will be evaluated through a three-year qualitative and quantitative applied research study, which will examine the impact of project staff development on teacher self-efficacy and student academic performance.

Grantee: Lincoln Public Schools, Lincoln, NE
Project Name: Teaching Excellence in America's Core History (TEACH)
Project Director: Karen Stanley (402) 436-1827
Funding: $995,963
Number of Teachers Served: 60
Number of School Districts Served: 1
Number of Students Served: No information available

Partnering with Nebraska Wesleyan University and Nebraska State Historical Society, Lincoln Public Schools is providing a professional development program for elementary through high school teachers that includes history seminars; summer colloquia involving work with primary documents and artifacts; institutes; workshops in academic settings and historic sites; and mentoring to improve the teaching of U.S. history. Participants can earn 18 hours of graduate credit and are expected to provide district leadership in history instruction strategies and classroom activities impacting 1,200 teachers and 32,000 students. The program replaces broad survey courses with course syllabi aligned with identified periods of American history: Progressivism and Expansion of Democracy in the 20th Century; U.S. Rise to World Power; Struggle for Civil Rights Among Minority Populations; Confronting the Challenge of the Great Depression; The Cold War at Home and Abroad; and Challenges of Post-Cold War America.

Grantee: Millard Public Schools, Omaha, NE
Project Name: Teaching American History: MPS & MOEC
Project Director: Martha M. Bruckner (402) 895-8306
Funding: $910,930
Number of Teachers Served: 90
Number of School Districts Served: 7
Number of Students Served: No information available

The district—representing Metropolitan Omaha Educational Consortium (MOEC)—is partnering with area schools, Nebraska Department of Education, University of Nebraska at Omaha, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Strategic Air and Space Museum to improve teacher competency in U.S. history, and raise the level of achievement of more than one quarter of Nebraska students. Summer seminars, workshops, videoconferences, consultations, and creation of a electronic lesson plan library (1,000 documents) are components designed to improve content knowledge and pedagogical skills of primary and secondary school teachers in grades 5, 8, 9, 11 and 12. Content topics include: Thomas Jefferson's Vision of a Meritocracy; Federalist vs. Anti-Federalist Debate; Ronald Reagan and the Conclusion of the Cold War; Kansas-Nebraska Act; Lewis and Clark; American Revolution; Civil War and Reconstruction; and the Civil Rights Movement.