About Teacher as Historian

This project website, Teacher As Historian, represents a comprehensive, dynamic, sustainable and replicable partnership that is improving student achievement in American history. Specifically, the project is preparing 15-20 Master Teachers who will be the core for improved traditional American history instruction in CSDs 17, 18 and 22 now and in the future; infuse invigorating high-quality, teacher-developed content into the existing curriculum; contribute nationally to best-practices; establish an ongoing infrastructure for high quality professional learning that can be used as a catalyst for research; create products that will support the dissemination of the project model, its philosophy and approaches; and engage teachers in CSDs 17, 18 and 22 in a dialogue focused on sharing best practices in the teaching of traditional American history as a separate academic subject - not just as a component of social studies - with noted historians from across the country through interactive video and Internet technologies.

This Teaching American History project was made possible through the generous support of the U.S. Department of Education.

Participating Schools:

Region 6 of the New York City Department of Education includes Community School Districts (CSD) 17, 18 and 22. Located in the borough of Brooklyn, CSDs 17, 18 and 22 deliver educational services to nearly 100,500 students. CSDs 17, 18 and 22 serve an ethnically diverse population of predominantly low-income students.

Traditional American history has always been important to CSDs 17, 18 and 22 at all grade levels. Learning and experiencing American history has created a unifying bond between schools, families and the community across the districts.

In a three-year period, this project is training 45 - 60 Master Teachers, who will become mentors, and 150 - 300 classroom teachers affecting instruction in 24 schools across CSDs 17, 18 and 22.

Project Partners: