Faculty from Ball State University's history department will soon be working with K-12 history teachers in the Madison area to help improve the teaching of American history.

The Teaching American History Grant has been awarded to the Madison Consolidated School Corp., located in Jefferson County in southern Indiana in partnership with Ball State's Department of History, Historic Madison, Inc., and Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana.

The $500,000 grant, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, will allow teachers to work with these partners over the next three years to develop student competencies in American history. The project begins next January with workshops run by Ball State faculty.

"We'll be working with teachers who may not have a strong background in history or have been out of school for a few years," said Ron Morris, Ball State history professor who wrote the grant request. "We also want to develop K-12 teachers who may be assigned to teach a history course, but may only have limited knowledge of the field.

"We believe history is a major component of American life," he said. "Every student needs to learn about the rights and responsibilities of being an American citizen."

As part of the project, teachers will engage in two summer seminars each year and six one-day workshops throughout the school year. Teachers will also create media materials to improve the teaching of American history in their classroom.

Ball State also plans to work with faculty and students from Hanover College, located in Madison, to improve on-site delivery of history lessons.

A Web site containing educational materials will be developed to allow Madison teachers to share their information with K-12 history instructors in southern Indiana and northern Kentucky. 

Morris said the proposal was warmly received when he approached Madison community and educational leaders, who have embraced historic preservation as an emphasis for the community.

Madison, which has been recognized as offering one of the highest qualities of life in the state, was designated as one of 12 Distinctive Destinations of 2001 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Madison currently has a population of about 13,000 people with 30,000 people residing within Jefferson County.

"Madison is an excellent place to start this project because the community is an example of how well historic preservation can be done," he said. "In some small communities, there may be a historic house or a street. However, in Madison the whole town is a historic district because the community has embraced the idea."

(Note to editors: For more information, contact at Morris at rvmorris@bsu.edu or (765) 285-8720.)