Linda Sargent Wood, Ph.D.
Northern Arizona University

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View of the Grand Canyon, A Flagstaff Pow Wow, and the first teachers of Page, Arizona

In 2002, Page, Arizona Unified School District (PUSD) won a coveted three-year, $853,000 Teaching American History (TAH) Grant from the United States Department of Education. PUSD viewed the grant as an excellent opportunity to bolster teacher knowledge and student achievement.

Under the leadership of West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd, Congress initiated the TAH grant program in 2001. According to the Department of Education website (Office of Innovation and Improvement),

"The purpose of these grants is to promote the teaching of traditional American history in elementary and secondary schools as a separate academic subject. Grants are used to improve the quality of history instruction by supporting professional development for teachers of American history."

- U.S. Dept of Education Program

The Page TAH grant was designed to help teachers meet the needs of the district's student population, which includes a very large percentage of Native American students. Page is a rural town of approximately 7,000 residents. Situated in northern Arizona, it sits a few miles from the Utah border, on the edge of Lake Powell and adjacent to the northwest border of the Navajo Nation. The Grand Canyon is 130 miles away.

To accomplish the goals of the grant, PUSD partnered with Northern Arizona University. Located in Flagstaff, Arizona, NAU is about 2 ½ hours from Page and a leading provider of teacher education in the state. PUSD linked hands with professors in the History Department and the College of Education to deliver classes and programs in historical content, pedagogical practices, and technological implementation. The Arizona K-12 Center, a statewide professional development agency and disseminator of Best Practices helped create video lessons (found at: http://azk12.nau.edu/bestpractices/videocases/).

There are seven funded programs of the TAH grant:

1. Summer Academies
2. Graduate Courses/MA Program/Training Stipends
3. Professional Development
4. Curriculum and Assessment Development
5. Instructional Materials
6. Field Trips
7. History Clubs.

An Advisory Council consisting of principals from each of the four schools, a teacher from each school, a representative from NAU, a representative from the AZ K-12 Center, and the TAH project coordinator was organized to oversee the operations of the grant. This council meets quarterly. Lynn Thompson Baca was the project director for the grant and Professor Linda Sargent Wood served as the teacher/mentor.

The Page TAH Experience

The Washington D.C. Trip