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UMass Lowell — in partnership with a consortium of eight of the region’s school districts, led by Billerica Public Schools — was recently awarded a three-year $1 million Teaching American History (TAH) grant by the U.S. Department of Education.
Funding will enable 120 elementary and secondary history and social studies teachers to participate in professional development as part of a project titled “Imagination, Invention, Innovation: The Making of American History.”
“The new grant is significant because it focuses on themes of invention and innovation that are particularly relevant to Lowell, to UMass Lowell history faculty and to the Tsongas Industrial History Center, which is a partner in the project,” says Judith Boccia, director of the Office of School Partnerships, which, along with the Tsongas Center, is part of the Graduate School of Education.
Faculty in the Graduate School of Education have been working with Billerica and the consortium to develop a range of activities for each of the three years to increase teachers’ knowledge of American history, develop new approaches for teaching traditional American history and create a cross-district collaborative of scholars and history teachers.
Each year will encompass a particular theme in American history with local history examined in relation to the larger, national dynamics.
Partner school districts in the grant are Amesbury, Billerica, Chelmsford, Hamilton-Wenham Regional, Littleton, Tewksbury, Triton Regional and Westford Public Schools.
“Seven of the eight districts have never participated in a Teaching American History project and would not have been able to do so without the partnership we created,” says Boccia, the project coordinator.
Many other districts in the area have, however, participated in similar projects over the past several years; the most recent grant is the fifth such award UMass Lowell has received from the U.S. Department of Education. In total, the University and 25 school district partners have been granted almost $5 million in Teaching American History money.
”The projects are important to the University as a showcase for the scholarship of our history faculty and a model of excellent teaching,” says Patricia Fontaine, professor of History and Social Studies Education at the Graduate School of Education.
Fontaine, who has been integrally involved in all five TAH grants, adds that the projects allow “students studying to become history and social studies teachers to participate in some of the project activities where they work side by side with teachers and scholars.”
The fact that UMass Lowell has received millions of dollars in Teaching American History grants is a testament to the quality of work of those involved, Boccia says.
“I think the continued success of the proposals is due to the high quality of project designs, excellent scholarly content provided by UML faculty and robust partnerships with school districts,” she says.
