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Americans All®
At a time when an understanding of the world around us has never been more important,
the core subjects of history and civics—critical elements of the academic
curriculum—are facing devastating cutbacks and even elimination. This battering
of one of the pillars of education is crippling efforts to prepare our more than 50
million K–12 public and private school students to become responsible citizens,
productive employees and educated consumers in a democratic society. It is imperative
that we restore history and civics instruction to our classrooms. We must take steps
now to encourage students to stay in school until graduation by making curriculum
resources relevant to their lives. Every nine seconds that U.S. schools are in session,
a student drops out of school. Americans All® can help reverse this serious trend
in education and more.
See History and Civics Instruction At Risk,
The ABC’s of Americans All®, and
About Americans All®: Business and Implementation Plan.
Americans All®, a 10-year education program operated by The Peopling of America,
aims to help students appreciate the social, economic and cultural value created by our
nation’s diversity. It does this by providing data that can be used to broaden
the perspective from which history and civics are taught at the elementary, middle,
and secondary school levels.
Using the saga of the peopling of America, Americans All® can improve student
performance and reduce racial and ethnic tensions by fostering:
- knowledge about the principles of democracy as expressed through the
experiences of diverse groups that came to and moved through the United States;
- higher levels of human awareness as a result of better appreciation
for self, greater sensitivity to others and increased skills for functioning in diverse
cultural groups and settings; and
- reading, writing, communication and critical- and creative-thinking skills
needed for success in today’s workplace and the increasingly interdependent world.
Students will study maps and timelines to track historical events against the
history of the peopling of America and use music, posters and photographs to give
America’s history “a human face.” Other Americans All® resources
will help teachers set up role-playing exercises in which students recreate experiences
at Ellis Island and Angel Island, the historical East Coast and West Coast entry points
for millions of new arrivals to the United States.
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Americans All® can help educators increase students’ interest, elevate
minority achievement, bridge the teacher-student disconnect, combat racial stereotypes,
improve students’ self-esteem and develop students’ citizenship skills
and employability. With local sponsor funding, the program will deliver much-needed
printed and
electronic
curriculum resources on the historical contributions of each
state’s population groups, as well as other
instructional materials
and training and support,
to enhance student learning, improve classroom instruction and strengthen
schools. Americans All® will also provide generic history and civics information
(e.g., lists and biographies of U.S. presidents) to provide consistency and avoid
duplication of effort.
State education systems will play an important role in garnering support for
Americans All® and in planning and implementing the initiative within the state. The
state-driven content of the printed resources and electronic databases will fully support
state standards and curriculum frameworks. Moreover, that content, while designed to
enable state testing in history and civics, will also support the requirements of the
federal No Child Left Behind Act. Professional development programs and a biweekly
electronic newspaper will share best practices and help ensure effective use of the
instructional materials.
Increased diversity within the student population now requires more inclusive
instructional resources. Americans All® instructional materials provide diverse and
inclusive images of history that can be a catalyst for students staying in school. The
program makes classroom relevant to students’ lives by teaching history from multiple
perspectives. It is preferable to teach U.S. history as a history that recognizes the
contributions of all people. Using our nation’s common heritage of diversity
and democracy, Americans All® effectively responds to today’s demographic
imperatives by focusing on factors that unite, rather than divide, the American people.
Our students must be prepared to become responsible citizens, productive employees
and educated consumers so they can participate fully in our democracy, workforce and
economy. A return to history and civics instruction is one of the chief tools to make
this happen, and Americans All® participants,
partners and
sponsors
will be at the vanguard of that movement.
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