Grantee: Joint School District #241 Grangeville, Grangeville, ID
Project Name: iTEACH (Imparting Teachers with Expertise, Appreciation, and Comprehension in History)
Project Director: Wayne R. Davis (202) 983-0990
Funding: $889,649
Number of Teachers Served: 75
Number of School Districts Served: 5
Number of Students Served: 2,961

In a rural, high poverty region the district is partnering with University of Idaho, Lewis-Clark State College, Historical Museum at St. Gertrude, Idaho County Historical Society, Lewis County Historical Society, and Grangeville Cooperative Network of Libraries to increase teacher understanding of and student achievement in American history. iTEACH aims to be a learning network of scholars bringing together local and national experts in content and pedagogical knowledge through 1-week annual summer institutes, 4 annual workshops, 4 annual historic site visits, coaching and mentoring, creation of an on-line AP History course available to all high schools, and expanding instructional resources for all history teachers. iTEACH will develop American History standards reflecting state achievement standards using resources of the American Historical Association and NCHE, with special attention to the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Strategic layers of support will facilitate teaching American history as a separate academic subject. Each participant receives a total of 308 hours of professional development in content knowledge and instructional skill building.

Grantee: Vallivue School District 139, Caldwell, ID
Project Name: Canyon County Teaching American History Project
Project Director: Scott Yenor (208) 426-2388
Funding: $865,788
Number of Teachers Served: 360
Number of School Districts Served: 3
Number of Students Served: No information available

This project meets a critical need for improved American History instruction in Canyon County by providing content-based professional development through three one-week summer institutes per year and four one-day seminars to fifth grade and high school history teachers in more than 25 schools. Partners include Boise University's College of Social Science and Public Affairs and Center for School Improvement and Policy Studies, Idaho State Historical Society, and National Association of Scholars, and American Academy for Liberal Education, the program's independent evaluator. Institute emphasis is placed on providing "deliverable" educational tools to teachers, with use of the Japanese lesson study approach to plan, teach, debrief and finalize units. Content covers Separation of Church and State, Presidential Leadership during the Civil War, Progressive Era and Cold War, Constitution and Federalists, Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase, American Polity and Election of 1860, Lincoln, Progressive Reform, New Deal and Progressivism, Emergence of U.S. as a World Power, Roosevelt, Truman, LBJ and Modern Anti-Communism, and How Presidents Changed American History.