AAM-Colorado Director Peggy O'Neill Jones will be working with the Jefferson County School District on a $950,000 DOE grant to improve the teaching of American history.

The Jefferson County School District is planning to team with Metro State’s Adventure of the American Mind-Colorado to implement a program to improve the quality of American history education through a three-year, $950,198 grant the district has received from the U.S. Department of Education.

The Teaching American History discretionary grant program supports projects “to improve teachers’ appreciation for and knowledge of traditional American history through intensive, on-going professional development.” Grantees are required to work in partnership with organizations that have extensive knowledge of American history. Under the grant, Jefferson County will work with both AAM-Colorado and the Center for the American West, out of the University of Colorado at Boulder.

According to Director Peggy O’Neill Jones, AAM-Colorado has been working with Jefferson County since 2004, when AAM-Colorado began. “And last spring, we brought about 30 Jefferson County teachers and administrators to Metro State for a daylong session on using primary sources,” she said. (Read about it at http://www.mscd.edu/~collcom/@metro/tw@metro_vol2/aam_twv2030205.htm). “When they saw what we had to offer, they asked if we would be able to partner with them on this grant.”

Cynthia Stout, project director for the grant and retiring curriculum content specialist for secondary social studies education in Jefferson County, said, “Peggy is fantastic in her willingness to work with school districts and give us what we need,” Stout said. "She’s also provided excellent opportunities for teachers throughout the metropolitan area, not just at Jefferson County.

“We just have the highest regard for her and the Adventure of the American Mind program. We’ve seen the magic it can work,” Stout added.

The Teaching American History grant program aims to improve student achievement by immersing history teachers in American history content and researched-based teaching strategies, to help them engage and instruct students more effectively.

O’Neill says her team will conduct three series of workshops for teachers: how to search the American Memory database (a collection of digitized artifacts from the Library of Congress), using primary source material in the classroom, and technology transformation, or how to use American Memory classrooms in electronic applications.

“The awarding of this grant and our partnering with the largest school district in the state gives a huge infusion to our grant, allowing us to leverage it for greater impact,” O’Neill said. “Most importantly, it will have a huge impact on the kids and how they learn history.”

To read more about AAM-Colorado, go to http://aamcolorado.mscd.edu/index.htm.