Center for Research, Evaluation, and Assessment
History
Teaching American History is a grant program funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The project goal is to support programs that raise student achievement by improving teachers' knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of American history. Funded projects are typically collaborative efforts bringing together expertise from school districts, institutions of higher education, and museums or informal learning institutions. The program evaluation methodology involves both experimental and quasi-experimental designs.
Time Travelers Teaching American History in the Northwest is a collaborative effort of the Twin Bridges Public School District, the University of Montana, and partner organizations dedicated to immersing teachers in history content, research, and helping teachers make classroom connections through professional development. Participants are drawn from schools across Montana, Washington, and Oregon. The project aims to develop content knowledge through an online course, as well as pedagogical skills through research experience and presentations during institutes. The project focuses on the development of transportation, communication, and movement of energy across the region over time.
From the World of Lewis and Clark to the World of Tomorrow is a partnership between the Bozeman School District; Montana State University's Department of History and Philosophy, Center for Native American Studies, and Museum of the Rockies; and the National Council for History Education (NCHE). The project aims to increase in teachers the appreciation of history, improve the quality of history teaching in grades K-12, and engage students in learning American history content from a variety of primary sources, including museum artifacts. The project addresses themes of cultural contact between different groups of Americans and examines the efforts to build the American republic across the centuries.
Telling Lives, Teaching Lives is a project centered in Bozeman, Montana, for Bozeman School District K-12 and Gallatin County K-8 teachers. The project focuses on professional development to support teaching traditional American history through the use of biography, America’s founding documents, and museum-based artifacts.
Journeys of the American West is a project of the North Central Washington Education Service District targeting middle level teachers in 29 school districts. The goal of the project is to improve student achievement in history by using a three-pronged approach to professional development of teachers by: (a) training middle school history instructors on American history content; (b) developing participants’ constructivist teaching skills; and (c) increasing teachers’ ability to use primary sources through a Web-based curriculum.