The Pasadena Independent School District social studies department’s five-year, $1 million Teaching American History grant from the United States Department of Education is targeted at raising student achievement by creating highly qualified social studies teachers through in-depth and specialized professional development in American history.

The grant will focus on the words and deeds of historically significant individuals in American History from 1607 to the present. Grant writer and Pasadena ISD social studies instructional specialist for sixth through 12^th grades Helen Drab Stigant said it is the duty of citizens and teachers to pass on the ideas of the Founding Fathers.

“Our future policy makers and politicians are in our classrooms today, and we must prepare them for the future,” said Stigant. “We are a country of immigrants and we have many recent immigrants that need to understand the foundation of our country and the ideas that guide us.”

Fifty-three percent of students who attend Pasadena ISD are limited English proficient or bilingual and, therefore, have limited or no generational knowledge of American history. To remedy the knowledge gap, the “From Kings to Presidents” project will train a total of 225 teachers from fifth, eighth and 11^th grades over the five-year period.

“There will be three teacher cohorts (85 teachers in each) with each cohort beginning at the start of the first three years,” said project coordinator of the grant Cheryl Park. “During the last two years of the grant, teachers will use the knowledge they have gained from professional development and will travel to the LBJ and Bush Presidential libraries. They will also conduct their field research and create their conceptual lessons during this time period.”

Teachers will participate in professional development opportunities with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, Texas A&M University and Learners Online, as well as historians and educational consultants Dr. James Bradford from Texas A&M and Dr. H. Lynn Erickson, an independent contractor and author of “Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction for the Thinking Classroom.”

“We don’t currently have funding to compensate speakers of this caliber,” Stigant said. “The lectures from the historians will expose the teachers to rich historical content and create a deeper understanding of the Words and Deeds of our Founding Fathers.”

Stigant said Erickson will work with teachers in using a conceptual framework.

“This strategy will train teachers to develop concepts that are abstract, universal in application and require students to think,” she said. “This instruction will facilitate the implementation of critical thinking skills in social studies classrooms in our district. Critical thinking skills are necessary in today’s high tech and rapidly changing society.”

Erickson said the grant will help teachers write a curriculum that is “idea-centered” rather than just “coverage-centered.”

“Teachers will use the important factual knowledge of history to help students uncover the deeper lessons of history,” said Erickson. “Different kinds of questions will help students develop historical thinking and reasoning abilities.”

Teachers will participate in 31 days of professional development during a three-year period which will occur on Saturdays during the summer. Teachers will also have the opportunity to become certified to teach Pre-AP and AP classes.

“Teachers will benefit from this grant in many ways,” said Park. “Along with learning new teaching strategies, they will also receive resources for their classrooms and will have an opportunity to travel to a place of their choosing to conduct field research on a topic that will be utilized in their classrooms. They will receive a stipend to fund the research. When teachers expand their knowledge, all students and our society benefit.”