Teachers' History Knowledge on the Rise

SWEDESBORO, N.J., April 2, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Teachers' knowledge of history content rose by 21 percent among school districts awarded the Teaching American History Grant, according to an independent evaluation performed for the American Institute for History Education (AIHE). The results are based on more than 20 representative school districts that use the AIHE's professional development system across the country.

The results point to the success of the U.S. Department of Education's Teaching American History (TAH) Grant, which awards funds to eligible school districts nationwide. Three-year TAH Liberty Fellowship(TM) programs conducted by AIHE seek to improve teachers' knowledge base and effectiveness in teaching American History.

"As demonstrated throughout the country, the TAH Grant, together with AIHE professional development in the form of the Liberty Fellowship, can make a measurable difference in the level of history education," says Kevin T. Brady, Ph.D., president of AIHE. "Our continued mission is to help districts throughout the country apply for the TAH Grant and then work with them to achieve similarly noteworthy results."

The evaluation was performed by Robert Peterson of Evaluation Solutions, Little Meadows, PA., which also does work for the U.S. Department of Education. Among the findings:

    -- Teachers increased their content knowledge by 11 raw points
       (21 percent) in the course of one year, based on their grant pre-tests
       to end-of-year post-tests;
    -- Urban district teachers improved even more, scoring 16 raw points
       better over the course of one year;
    -- Students of teachers in their second year of the AIHE TAH program
       scored 30 percent higher on a test of nationally validated history
       content questions than students in a matched comparison district;
    -- Urban students of teachers in the AIHE TAH program scored 44 percent
       higher than students in matched comparison;
    -- AIHE TAH elementary scores rose 38 percent from the previous year.

AIHE provides educators with resources that include lectures from top historians, scholars and university professors, and national experts in the fields of curriculum development, history, and social sciences. AIHE's online "toolbox," Cicero: History Beyond the Textbook(TM), delivers additional tools for classroom use and professional development, including downloadable lesson plans, period-related audio clips, art, lyrics and music, historical event maps and interactive battle maps, classroom PowerPoint presentations, and assessment methods and formulas.

In 2007, the U.S. Department of Education awarded $116 million in TAH grants to local education agencies. AIHE currently works on more than 50 of these grants nationally. AIHE provides TAH Liberty Fellowship(TM) grant writing services to school districts free of charge.

The American Institute for History Education was established to provide substantive, engaging historical content and activities for high school, middle school and elementary school teachers to use in their classrooms. The Institute's Liberty Fellowship(TM) program dramatically increases students' comprehension of historical events, personalities and issues, as well as improves their overall critical thinking, reading and comprehension skills, contributing to increased student achievement.

AIHE specializes in teacher professional development, curriculum development, teacher training workshops, field study trips, and interactive resources. Visit http://www.AIHE.info for more information as well as links to school districts that have partnered with the American Institute for History Education.

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Kevin Brady, Ph.D.
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