Know your history? $1M grant assures area teachers will know theirs
Joint $1 million grant boosts teaching capabilities among area educators.
- March 21, 2011
For a second time, the California State University, East Bay History Department is subcontracting with the Alameda County Office of Education on a $1 million Teaching American History Grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The grant is one of 14 received by California counties this year and is administered and directed by Avi Black, history and social science curriculum coordinator at ACOE.
The History Department is cooperating with ACOE and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Institute at Stanford University on "Words That Made America," a professional development program for eighth grade and 11th grade U.S. History teachers focusing on interpretation and pedagogical use of original historical documents. Teachers throughout the county are eligible for the 30 core positions, but priority will be given to candidates from the three partnering districts – Hayward, San Leandro and San Lorenzo.
CSUEB history faculty will continue to assist teacher-teams in acquiring the history content and skills they need to help students meet state standards. Lessons for teachers explore major themes in American history through the key concepts of freedom, equality and democracy in seminars, lecture series and summer institutes.
"The History Department faculty gained substantial knowledge of the challenges facing K-12 history teachers in the previous grant, which included cooperation on two major summer tours, one of the Civil Rights South and the other of key sites for understanding and interpreting the Underground Railroad,” said Dee Andrews, history professor and content coordinator for “Words that Made America.”
“We expect that our participation in the new grant will be equally rewarding and exciting,” said Andrews.
"The interaction between the Department of History and the regional teachers is just one example of the way the university enriches the East Bay region. This valuable collaboration between professors and public school teachers benefits everyone, especially the students," said Kathleen Rountree, interim dean of the College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences.
Information on the CSUEB History Department is available online.