KU News Release

KU nets $600,000 to boost American history education in western Kansas

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas and the Garden City School District have been awarded more than $600,000 to help boost the teaching of American history to students in the district. The funding from the U.S. Department of Education will match KU history professors with teachers in Garden City to develop new 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 USD 457 Assistant Superintendent Shelly Kiblinger 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 funds will be used across all grade levels.

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 who do not 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 full 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.

This isn’t the first time KU has partnered with teachers in southwest Kansas. In 2004, two KU professors received a three-year, $570,000 U.S. Department of Education grant that involved the Liberal school district and the Coronado Museum in Liberal.

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The University of Kansas is a major comprehensive research and teaching university. University Relations is the central public relations office for KU's Lawrence campus.