The Savannah-Chatham County Public School System has been awarded a $1,000,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Teaching American History grant program.

This is the sixth time the district has received the grant. The grant will provide funding for teacher professional development programs to improve teacher knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of traditional American history, thus allowing teachers to deliver more engaging and effective American history instruction, resulting in improved student achievement.

The grant will cover the time period of September 1, 2010 through August 31, 2013 but may be extended for two years for a total grant award of $1.6 million dollars.

The local grant project, Monumental Words and Deeds: Figures and Forces in American History will focus on K-5 teachers.

This professional development program will utilize Savannah’s historic landscape and resources to link events in local history with parallel events in American history.

Teacher-participants will read scholarly historical texts of major events, periods, and ideas in American history, engage in interactions with professional historians, and travel to historic sites.

The grant’s formal programs will serve 65 teachers per year (325 over five years). Partners for the grant include Armstrong Atlantic State University, Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History (New York, New York) and the Coastal Museums Association.

For additional information on the grant, please contact Leah Colby, Grant Projects Director or Candy Lowe, Director of Social Studies at 395-5070.