The Teaching American History (TAH) Grant is a competitive grant program offered by the U.S. Department of Education, which provides funds to school districts nationwide, supporting efforts to improve the teaching and learning of American History. Since 2001, New York City’s School Districts have benefited from many TAH Grants.
The Districts in New York City that have been awarded a TAH Grant have structured programs designed to offer high-quality professional development to teachers with the goal of deepening their knowledge and appreciation of American History. Through partnerships with historians and cultural institutions, teachers also gain understanding of historical content and themes. As a result of these grants, teachers are able to develop historically accurate, standards-based classroom curricula that use primary resources and active engagement. By participating in the TAH programs, teachers have the unique opportunity to be students of American History while collaborating with colleagues, and generating exciting and insightful ways to teach American History to their students.
We have collected information on the TAH grants, including some with Web sites, to provide all New York City teachers with access to document-based teaching resources and the content links that support the teaching of American History. Although many of these grants offer professional development specifically geared to teachers in their districts, the materials that they use and develop are posted and available for all elementary, middle and secondary schools to use in their classrooms.
Please Note: All content on the TAH grant Web sites is maintained by the District host.
Grants with Web Sites:
Foundations of American Democracy (2007)
This grant is for teachers of grades 6-12 in Districts 6, 3, and 5. The program’s partners are The New- York Historical Society and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Project Director: Julie Vitulano, jvitulano@schools.nyc.gov
Leadership in American History Leadership in American History is a Citywide program of systematic professional development that will instruct and engage 7th and 8th grade American history teachers working in the city’s 127 “Schools in Need of Improvement” on the middle school level. Through an in-depth examination of American leaders throughout history who have shaped our nation, teachers will learn the content of traditional American history and innovative strategies and materials for bringing it to the students in their American history classes. The program will also measure the increase in student achievement that results from increased, ongoing and differentiated staff development; document and disseminate successful strategies and curricular units in American History created through the program; and develop a cadre of Teacher Leaders in order to provide a sustainable professional development model for New York City beyond the grant period and a replicable model for school systems across the country.
Leadership in American History will be a collaboration among the NYC Department of Education; the Gotham Center of the City University of New York (CUNY); City Lore: New York’s Center for Urban History and Culture; the Historic House Trust of New York City; Henry Street Settlement; The New-York Historical Society; the Brooklyn Historical Society; and the Museum of Television and Radio. The combined expertise of these organizations will bring teachers and their students the essential themes and content of American History in an immediately accessible framework. For more information contact Elise Abegg, Project Director: Eabegg@schools.nyc.gov.
Here is information on grants which are not connected to Web sites:
Experiences in American History: Setting the Stage for Grades K-2 (2008) This grant is for teachers of Kindergarten through grade 2 across the city. The program's partners are the New-York Historical Society, the Gilder Lehrman Institute and Bank Street College of Education. The first year of the grant is well underway. Teachers have participated in workshops at the New-York Historical Society and are hosting specialists in follow-up visits at their school. Schools that are interested in participating in the grant in the 2010-11 school year, can fill out an application beginning in Spring 2010. To view a brochure with more information, click here. Project Director: Norah Lovett, nlovett@schools.nyc.gov.
Telling America’s Story: Language and Literacy for Learning Traditional American History (2007) Districts 8, 11, and 12. This professional development opportunity for teachers working in Community School Districts 8, 11 and 12 continues the tradition of federally-funded Teaching American History Programs in the Bronx. The program is designed for Social Studies teachers with a focus on developing teaching strategies that balance rich historical content with language and literacy skills to help our students. Teacher-Historians will participate in intensive professional development to become Master Teachers and provide support for their colleagues. Our partners include Fordham University, Bartow-Pell Mansion, the Bronx County Historical Society and the Museum of the City of New York. The program will conduct Spring and Fall institutes as well as several workshops and tours hosted at our partner sites over the course of the year. For more information, please contact Brian Carlin, Project Director: Bcarlin@schools.nyc.gov.
Teacher as Historian (2007-2008) Districts 17 and 22. This grant serves thirty-four elementary and middle schools in District 17 and District 22 in southeast Brooklyn. There are two primary partners in this grant: Gilder-Lehrman Institute for American History and the Brooklyn Museum of Art. They work together to design and implement a professional development program for elementary and middle school teachers. The program is geared towards improving student achievement in American History, providing enriched content knowledge for participating teachers and involving parents in the education of their children by encouraging them to make meaningful connections between history and today’s world.
Participating teachers are invited to the Brooklyn Museum of Art to attend several all day workshops over the course of the year. A historian from Gilder-Lehrman discusses a specific historical period. Immediately following this workshop, museum educators lead the teachers in a guided tour of targeted works of art to engage participants and enrich their perspectives on that period. Gilder-Lehrman also provides a Summer Institute that invites five participating teachers to attend a university in a variety of locales with historical significance in the U.S. and abroad to focus on a specific period in history. There is also a pilot program for high school educators. Gilder-Lehrman has brought in top historians to provide a small number of customized workshops to work with teachers on primary documents, annotated primary sources and lessons on selected topics in American History. For more information, please contact Diane Lacapria, Project Director: dlacapr@schools.nyc.gov.
Districts 1, 2, 4 and 7. History in the Classroom is a program developed and implemented in collaboration with New-York Historical Society to increase student achievement at the high school level through rigorous training of teachers with a focus on American history. This is accomplished through P-Credit courses and summer institutes co-taught by an historian and the Project Manager/Master Teacher. Through partnerships with the American Museum of Natural History, Museum of the City of New York and the New York Public Library, teachers learn to incorporate the use of primary documents, visual and recorded artifacts and cultural artifacts in the process of both learning and teaching. Other components of the program include book clubs, museum visits and lesson study. Teachers are also provided in-school support by the Program Manager and Project Director. For more information, contact Ann-Marie Weathers, Project Director: Aweathers@schools.nyc.gov .
Traditional American History through a Local Lens for Middle and High School Educators Districts 8, 11, and 12
The Telling America's Story TAH Grants are a three-year intensive, federally-funded professional development program designed to improve teachers’ U.S. History content and classroom pedagogy. In the morning sessions of the TAH Institutes, teachers participate in seminars from nationally known historians such as Ken Jackson, Andrew Robertson, and Cindy Lobel. In the afternoon sessions, teachers work with experienced staff developers and professors of education to develop standards-based classroom strategies and materials based on the workshop model and balanced literacy.
Teachers participate in TAH Institutes (summer, spring and fall), museum visits and workshops, TAH Museum Pass, Gilder Lehrman Historian's Forums and school-based interdisciplinary American History study groups. For more information, contact Philip Panaritis, Project Director: Ppanari@schools.nyc.gov.
US Department of Education's Teaching American History Resources