Grantee: Anderson School District, Williamston, SC
Project Name: EXCEL-Excellence in Crafting Energetic Learners
Project Director: John Pruitt (864) 847-7344
Funding: $999,782
Number of Teachers Served: 120
Number of School Districts Served: 3
Number of Students Served: 3,630

Three school districts in rural South Carolina are teaming with the History Department at Clemson University, Anderson County Historical Society, Anderson County Library, Social Studies Consulting Services, and South Carolina Museum to promote excellence in the teaching and learning of American history. The program targets teachers in grades 4 and 5 without history credentials for intensive professional development including school-year retreats; summer institutes; peer support; hands-on training and coaching; designing model classrooms; technology support; and after-school student-teacher extension groups. The summer institutes address: the 13 Colonies; American Revolution; Constitution; 18th century Virginia; Civil War; Reconstruction; Western Expansion; Native American experience; Freedom of Expression; World War I; Great Depression; New Deal; World War II; Race and Rights; Role of Anderson County; and major development from WWII to the present.

Grantee: Horry County Schools, Conway, SC
Project Name: The Discovery of American History Project
Project Director: Jeanie U. Dailey (843) 488-6852
Funding: $981,562
Number of Teachers Served: 120
Number of School Districts Served: 1
Number of Students Served: No information available

For this three-year project, northeastern South Carolina's Horry County Schools will join the National Paideia Center, Southeastern Region Vision for Education (SERVE), National Humanities Center (NHC), Center for Gifted Education, Francis Marion University, Furman University, and the Coastal Carolina University. Each summer, 40 teachers will participate in a staff development program that includes the study of primary source documents, backward planning unit design, and online seminar toolboxes, as well as training in the Paideia instructional model. Seminars will focus on the latest historiography, major historical debates, and primary documents. The project's goals are to (1) design, pilot, and institutionalize a three-year staff development model; (2) develop methods for working with school administrators to support this model; and (3) design and implement an instructional review process. Seminar content will be based upon NHC online toolboxes The first toolbox features living in Revolutionary America from 1789-1820. The second addresses tensions produced by expansion and sectionalism. The third examines challenges faced by African-Americans from 1877 to 1920. Within the next few years, the NHC will develop a library of other toolboxes spanning the entire range of American history.

Grantee: Richland School District, Columbia, SC
Project Name: Teaching American History Grant Program
Project Director: Mary Paige Boyce (803) 738-3276
Funding: $999,558
Number of Teachers Served: No information available
Number of School Districts Served: 7
Number of Students Served: No information available

The project provides content-driven professional development for American History teachers in grades 4, 5, 8, and 11 through summer institutes and post-institute support in three regions of South Carolina. Participants receive 30 hours of content instruction, 15 hours of cultural institution collaboration, and 15 hours of method instruction. The project is aimed at helping teachers to develop innovative teaching techniques through use of local primary sources, and connecting national history to local and regional events, people and places. Historians provide master scholar sessions with documentary and material cultural resources relating to historical themes, and work with teacher participants to create lesson plans, which are published online. Graduate research assistants from the University of South Carolina assist in gathering materials and conducting research for teachers. Year 1 focuses on Exploration and Settlement through the Civil War; Year 2 on Reconstruction to the Post-Cold War; and Year 3 on Selected Themes.