New York City's Department of Education developed a citywide program of systematic professional development that (a) instructed and engaged public school teachers in basic concepts of traditional American history; (b) measured the increase in student achievement that resulted from increased staff development; (c) documented and disseminated successful units of American History created through the program; and (d) served as a sustainable staff development model for New York City beyond the grant period, and a replicable model for school systems across the country.
Framing American History will was a collaboration among the 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 other historical societies and museums across the city. The combined expertise of these organizations brought to teachers and their students the essential content of American History in an immediately accessible framework.
Framing American History encompassed professional development with three components: a forty-hour summer institute for 100 teachers in grades 4 through 8 in the first year of the grant; a sixty-hour Fellows program of intensive seminars for twenty-four 7 th and 8 th grade teachers representing all twelve regions throughout the following academic year; and an ambitious program of formal, mentored dissemination throughout the school system in the third year of the grant that fully prepared an additional 120 teachers to teach American History.
Framing American History was evaluated by The Edwin G. Michaelian Institute for Public Policy of Pace University. The research addressed two questions: What are the effects of the Framing American History on a group of New York City seventh and eighth grade school teachers? What are the effects on different learner groups of exposure to Framing American History trained teachers?
The program targeted teachers in schools that are not served by other enrichment programs, including other Teaching American History programs. The program identified other under-performing schools and schools with a preponderance of under-trained teachers. The program built on relationships and experience developed over many years between schools and the participating cultural organizations. |
