This rural eastern North Carolina district was the site of some of the nation's earliest English-speaking settlements. Many students, however, are unaware of this rich heritage. In 2010, the state announced changes to increase the study of U.S. history in the fifth and seventh grades and to redefine the scope of the eighth grade North Carolina history course. Each year of this project, 20 teachers will participate in a 1-week, field-based summer seminar and weekend workshops (four in Years 1-2 and three in Year 3). In Year 1, 20 elementary teachers will concentrate on the first four historical periods outlined by the National Assessment of Educational Progress — a different period in each weekend workshop. The summer seminar will include field studies in southeastern U.S. cities that played critical roles in the nation's early development. In Year 2, 20 middle school social studies teachers will explore political and economic history from multiple perspectives across all periods. Their summer field study will include trips to northeastern U.S. sites pertaining to the Industrial Revolution. In Year 3, 20 participants from the first two years will be recruited and trained as an instructional leadership team; the summer field study will take place in Washington, D.C., as the teachers examine how the nation tells the story of its history and heritage. The first two years will focus on content acquisition, while Year 3 will include strategies for using primary sources, digital resources and multimedia. The leadership team will develop print, electronic and multimedia curricular materials, which will be posted on a public Web site.