CONTACT: Chris Bennett, Assistant Superintendent Secondary Curriculum and Instruction, 560-2597
DURHAM—The U.S. Department of Education has awarded Durham Public Schools a grant for more than $800,000 to strengthen history instruction.
DPS, in partnership with Franklin County Schools, will use the Teaching American History Grants Program funding to support the History LINK (Learning and Integrating New Knowledge) Project. The U.S. Department of Education’s Teaching American History Program is designed to raise student achievement by improving teachers’ knowledge and understanding of and appreciation for traditional U.S. history.
The three-year LINK Project will provide participating high school teachers of U.S. history with an intensive, high quality series of courses and seminars. Three cohorts of 30 high school teachers each (up to 90 teachers total over three years) will participate in a series of two-week summer institutes.
During the school year, teachers will attend monthly seminars led by historians. The seminars will include intense study of the U.S. Constitution, major policies and themes surrounding the Great Depression and World War II and Immigration and Industrialization. They will include travel to Williamsburg, VA, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Museum and Library, and the New York Stock Exchange and United Nations.
Teachers will use their experiences to develop instructional tools using technology and other formats to engage students in the study of history. Partners in the LINK Project include Duke University, N.C. State University, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the National Constitution Center, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum, and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
“The Teaching American History grant is a fantastic opportunity for our high school history teachers to add texture and relevance in the teaching of U.S. history,” said Superintendent Carl Harris. “We are excited by the potential this grant has to offer our teachers, with the ultimate outcome being students who are engaged in learning and who have a richer understanding and deeper appreciation for the history of our country.”
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