FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media contact: Sue Stevens, Senior Media Relations Officer, 817-272-3317, sstevens@uta.edu

ARLINGTON - History professors at The University of Texas at Arlington, aided by a U.S. Department of Education grant, are working to boost student achievement by teaching area middle and high school history teachers more effective ways to teach American history.

The project is funded through a $969,477 federal grant to the Dallas Independent School District. UT Arlington history professor W. Marvin Dulaney and Robert Edison, the Dallas school district's social studies director secured funding for the five-year program.

Under the grant, beginning this fall: 

• UT Arlington history faculty with work with Edison to design curriculum.
• 50 selected Dallas teachers will participate in monthly workshops.
• The sessions will focus on teaching teachers how to teach and deal with content, interpretation and methodology.
• Participating teachers will be invited to attend summer institutes and field trips that will enable them to design curricula for their classes.

"My colleagues and I aim to help DISD teachers improve student understanding of the past so that they will not only be better students of American history, but also better citizens of our country," Dulaney said. "It is a challenge, but we want students to move from an emphasis primarily on futuristic video games to being people who understand how the past informs the present and affects the future."

The Dallas school district is one of 123 districts nationwide to be awarded funding to improve students achievement in American history courses through such intensive, ongoing professional development. Participating districts must partner with an organization that has extensive knowledge of American history, such as institutions of higher education.

UT Arlington is in the second year of a similar grant awarded to the Fort Worth Independent School District and has partnered with the Arlington Independent School District on another grant.

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