Education Northwest offers expert evaluations of these federal grants.

On January 21, the federal government announced it is seeking applications for the Teaching American History (TAH) Grant Program. During the past nine years the U.S. Department of Education program has awarded more than 1,000 grants to school districts and their partners. With this funding, local education agencies are supported to create exemplary professional development for American history teachers. The aim is to raise student achievement by improving teachers’ knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of American history. Funded projects are designed to be collaborative efforts bringing together expertise from school districts, institutions of higher education, and museums or informal learning institutions.

Since the beginning of the TAH program, Education Northwest has helped grantees design and implement high-quality evaluations. As external evaluators, Education Northwest staff members are experienced in collaborating with applicants and grantees to develop meaningful performance measures to demonstrate project results. Previous TAH evaluations have provided rich opportunities to assess changes in teachers and students as they deepen content knowledge, develop pedagogical skills, and hone experience using archival and primary sources, founding documents, or museum artifacts.

View a PowerPoint presentation highlighting key aspects of the invitation and the Federal Register notice on the ED.gov Website. Notice of intent to apply is due February 22, 2010, with completed applications due March 22, 2010.

For more information on evaluation of TAH grants visit our Evaluation of Teaching American History (TAH) Initiatives service page or contact Phyllis Ault; 503-275-9638.