College of Education > News > 2009 > July > Saye's project receives $999,000 grant

Saye's project receives $999,000 grant

July 2009  

While Dr. John Saye serves as co-director of the Persistent Issues in History Network, students and teachers in Alexander City, Phenix City, Tallapoosa County and Lee County (Ala.) Schools will soon reap the rewards of his own persistence.

This week, the U.S. Department of Education  awarded a $999,957 Teaching American History grant to help Lee County and its neighboring school systems boost student achievement and teacher knowledge in the field. Saye, an alumni professor of secondary social sciences in the Auburn University College of Education's Department of Curriculum and Teaching, submitted the grant proposal on behalf of the schools and will serve as project director.

Saye's project, entitled "Ploughing Freedom's Ground,'' will provide teachers in grades 4-12 with enhanced historical content knowledge, inquiry strategies and interactive Web-based tools to engage their students in the study of five historical periods: Revolution and the New Nation, Expansion and Reform, Civil War and Reconstruction, the Development of Modern America and Contemporary America. The project will focus on pivotal events in each period that illustrate the challenges of ensuring fairness and justice for all Americans.

"These grants give school districts an ideal opportunity to partner with other organizations that possess content expertise to embark on a journey to enhance American history education and student academic achievement," U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in a release from the Alabama State Department of Education  . "We should seize the moment, and make history by improving the quality of teaching in U.S. history classes, as we prepare students for future careers."  

In this case, the school systems benefit from the Persistent Issues in History Network, a partnership between Auburn University and Indiana University. Saye and Dr. Tom Brush of Indiana University created and continue to share in the maintenance of a problem-based system of learning, understanding and experiencing history. Saye uses history as a contextual device to effectively educate students about current democratic and societal issues. A number of Web-based learning and multimedia instructional tools are available online at pihnet.org  .

"The 'Plowing Freedom's Ground' project will allow the PIH Network to apply its research-based, field-tested model to support project teachers as they develop deep historical content knowledge and classroom-based expertise for powerful inquiry-based history instruction,'' Saye said.

The USDE grant will provide three years of funding for the participating schools, as well as sub-awards for Auburn University and Indiana University. In all, the USDE awarded $116 million to 123 school districts in 38 states to help improve the teaching of American history. Elmore County Schools and Tuscaloosa City Schools also received funding.

Last Updated: May 16, 2011