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KU, Garden City team up to boost American history education

KU and the Garden City School District have been awarded more than $600,000 from the U.S. Department of Education to match KU history professors with teachers in Garden City to develop innovative American history curriculum.

"The Teaching American History grant program offers educators opportunities to work with colleges and universities, nonprofit organizations, libraries or museums to learn more about our country's history, culture and democratic tradition," said U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. "By providing professional development for teachers, we can help them support young people in becoming active, informed citizens."

Allan Miller, project coordinator, and Becky Eason, associate director of KU's Institute for Educational Research and Public Service, partnered with Shelly Kiblinger, the district's assistant superintendent, in writing the five-year, $662,402 grant. The institute is part of KU's School of Education. The Finney County Historical Society and Finney County Public Library will also be involved in the program, Miller said.

A key component of the grant will be pairing KU history professors with Garden City teachers across many academic areas and grade levels.

"The biggest part of what we're doing is conducting a two-week institute in the summers beginning in 2009 in Garden City," Miller said.

Eason said three KU faculty members and several staff members will make the trip to Garden City.

"That's the heart of this program," Eason said. "Spending all day every day for two weeks with their history teachers so they can pass that knowledge on to their students."

Miller said the program will be two-fold. The first is matching the history professionals to create innovative teaching modules that will be available online. The modules will focus on creating new ways to explore common themes in American history. For example, Rita Napier, associate professor of history, specializes in Plains Indian history and could help develop programs that focus on history from the natives' perspective.

The second aspect of the program is research-based. Miller said KU personnel will compare test results of students in the Garden City School District who take part in the program with those in similar districts to see if there is a difference in student performance in history.

History is among the core subjects in the No Child Left Behind Act. To maintain federal funding, school districts must show improvement in history scores on standardized tests.

The KU-Garden City partnership is among projects in 40 states funded by the grant. The funds are part of a $114.7 million grant for 121 projects.

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Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and Lawrence Mayor Michael Dever recently proclaimed April 14-20 Elizabeth Sherbon Week in honor of the centennial celebration of her birth. Sherbon, a longtime Lawrence resident and 1930 KU grad, was a member of the Martha Graham and Jean Erdman dance companies in New York City and was Graham's teaching assistant before directing the KU dance program from 1961 to 1975. The city of Lawrence awarded Sherbon the Cultural Enhancement Award in 1993 for her contributions to the city's artistic and cultural life.