Grant sends history teachers back to school

The U.S. Department of Education's Kristine Cohn called it "the grant the keeps on giving."

It's a $991,860 Teaching American History federal grant jointly awarded to Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 and Northwest Suburban High School District 214.

The money will give 15 teachers the chance to enroll in graduate courses over three years to brush up on their U.S. history.

"It's so important for (students) to see we as teachers are going back to learn more," Cohn said.

The courses for teachers include topics like "Race and Politics in the United States since Emancipation," "Problems and Cases in American History Before 1877" and "American Women's History."

"It's a little bit of competitive collaboration … each one pushes the other a little further," said District 211 Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum Jeff Butzen.

Teachers will also have a chance to leave the classroom and visit local historical sites, like Jane Addams Hull House in Chicago, as well as attend national conferences.

Friday, Cohn toured Schaumburg High School and attended a class taught by Mary Lopez, who helped applied for the grant.

"We're getting so much more information and so much more knowledge that it's nice for our teachers to have that content refreshed and added to," Lopez said.

Both elementary and high schools are eligible, and Cohn said about 120 schools were given more than $140 million this year. Elgin Area School District U-46 was awarded $985,448.

District 214 Superintendent David Schuler majored in history and said he may sit in on a few sessions. He said the grant would help prepare students and gave them the proper historical background to excel after graduation.

"For us to capitalize on that capacity that provides us to increase student achievements and student learning is absolutely unbelievable," he said.

The courses will be taught by some of the premier historians in the country, Lopez said, as well as staff from the University of Illinois at Chicago. The classes will meet at Palatine High School.