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"Ozarks
and the Nation" Grant Focuses on American History
Missouri Southern News Bureau
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 1, 2002
Contact:
Dr. Larry Cebula
(417) 625-9739
E-Mail: News
Bureau
Voice: (417) 625.9399
FAX: (417) 625.3142
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(JOPLIN, MO) SNS - The United States
Department of Education recently awarded a Teaching American History
grant, Ozarks and the Nation, to Missouri Southern State College and
Carl Junction R-1 School District, and the Southwest Center for
Educational Excellence, a partnership of area schools.
The program is designed to raise student achievement by
strengthening teachers' knowledge, understanding and appreciation of
American history. The project award for $772,053 is among the largest
funded in the FY 2002 competition and is one of two awarded in Missouri.
The Department of Education received 469 applications and 114 of
those projects were funded in 39 states plus the District of Columbia.
Grants range in size from $19,000 to $1 million for three-year projects.
The Ozarks and the Nation Project is a cooperative effort of the
Carl Junction R-1 School District, representing the 43 K-12 districts in
the Southwest Center for Educational Excellence consortium, Missouri
State College, Joplin Museum Complex, George Washington Carver Monument,
Harry S. Truman Birthplace, Powers Museum, and Prairie Museum to enable
local history teachers to become a community of learners. Some of the
project's goals are to:
- Increase teachers' content knowledge
- Provide pedagogical training for teachers in inquiry-based
learning and teaching with primary sources;
- Create a series of online learning modules of local history;
- Host a conference;
- Create and maintain teaching collaboration between MSSC history
faculty and local teachers; and
- Increase participation in the National History Day Competition.
A leadership team composed of all partner representatives will
guide the planning of the project. Team members from the Southwest
Center for Educational Excellence will include the Project Director,
Marilyn Rowe, Bob Collier, Director of the Center, along with Julie
Riley, Professional Development Coordinator for the project.
Dr. Larry Cebula, associate professor of history, and Dr. Paul
Teverow, professor of history, will represent Missouri Southern. Dr.
Cebula will serve as the coordinator for organizing and delivering
historical content information and training for the teachers. Cebula,
Teverow and other MSSC American history professors, will plan and
facilitate reading seminars and Summer Institutes and will play a major
role in the development of the conference.
Also serving on the leadership team will be Brad Belk, Joplin
Museum Complex; Chief Ranger Lana Henry, George Washington Carver
National Park, Diamond; Pam Myers, Harry S. Truman Birthplace, Lamar;
and Michelle Hansford, Powers Museum, Carthage. In addition, two
teachers of American history in the Carl Junction School District will
join the team as representatives of the teachers in the area.
Thirty teachers of American history from 42 districts (members
of the Southwest Center for Educational Excellence) will be selected to
participate in the project during each of the first two years and
fifteen the last year. The competitive application process for teachers
will include a letter of recommendation from their building principal
and a cover letter detailing interest, commitment and qualification for
participation in the project.
In a recent Rose Garden speech, President Bush made the
following remarks relevant to the Teaching American History Program: "Our
Founders believe the study of history and citizenship should be at the
core of every American's education. Ignorance of American history and
civics weakens our sense of citizenship. To be an American is not just a
matter of blood or birth; we are bound by ideas, and our children must
know those ideals. The primary responsibility for teaching history and
civics rests with our elementary and secondary schools, and they've got
to do their job"
The Ozarks and the Nation Project will help teachers meet President
Bush's challenge.
"Ozarks and the Nation": Teaching American History
Grant Southwest Center for Educational Excellence 600 S. Ellis, Suite
B Webb City, MO 64870
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