This district north of Seattle has seen a shift in demographics in recent years. Today, about 30 percent of students come from families in poverty, 13 percent receive special education services and the number of bilingual students has jumped; these factors all contribute to achievement gaps. Each project year will begin with a 3-day summer kickoff session led by experts and historians; it will be followed by 11 full-day in-service workshops that will include lectures and book discussions with guest historians, intensive content learning and pedagogical training, and grade-level group meetings to conduct lesson study. The initial cohort of 35 teachers will participate in Years 1 to 3, and a new cohort of 20 will participate in Years 4 and 5; this second cohort will be mentored by 10 members of the first cohort. The course of study will address two essential questions: (1) What is the role of the citizen in democracy? (2) What is the experience of the citizen in society? While exploring these questions, the content strand will focus on traditional American history, paying attention to state standards for appropriate grade levels. The pedagogical strand will focus on six teaching methods related to the use of primary sources, historical thinking and communication. Using Response to Intervention and the Lesson Study process, teachers will develop lessons, assessments and other resources.
Teacher-generated lessons and materials as well as videos of cohort teachers using best practices will be published on three Web sites and publicized through professional conferences.

Two of these southern Washington state districts collaborated on a previous Teaching American History grant; it was so successful that teachers on a waiting list made it clear that extending the project — and involving another district — would have value. Each year, teachers will attend seven full-day symposia of scholarly lectures and lesson modeling. In monthly study groups, teachers from all three districts will work as a learning community to solve problems, reflect on practice and conduct lesson study. During a 5-day summer field study, teachers will work directly with historians, archivists and curators at local and regional sites. Five 1-year cohorts of 25 teachers will participate; teachers will be those who need to reach highly qualified status or who come from the lowest performing schools. The project theme of "Towards a More Perfect Union" will guide the exploration of civil rights throughout U.S. history. The Concerns-Based Adoption Model will be the overarching framework for more than 100 hours of annual professional development. Led by expert historians and master history educators, teachers will learn History Habits of Mind and study traditional American history by addressing essential questions about the ideals of democracy, liberty and equality. To promote a culture of instructional excellence and collegiality, project staff will introduce professional learning communities, lesson study and one-on-one mentoring/coaching by teachers who participated in the previous grant. All state teachers will have access to project-created products, including standards-based lesson plans and assessments, activities based on historical texts, in-service units for future use, and classroom kits that incorporate history and archeology for hands-on experiences.