|
Americans All®,
an education program operated by The Peopling of America,
is designed for use in grades K–12, is easily integrated into daily classroom
activities, and offers inclusive, objective and historically accurate curriculum resources
in print and electronic formats. These attributes set the program apart from other
programs offering history and civics instructional materials. Moreover, its delivery of
curriculum resources in multiple mediums and its tying of those resources to the scope
and sequence of each state’s history and civics instruction make the Americans
All® teaching materials more effective than those designed by traditional textbook
publishers or other Internet providers of curriculum resources.
See The ABC’s of Americans All®, About Americans All®: Business and Implementation Plan and Americans All®: Why It Matters and How It Works.
To become responsible citizens, productive employees and educated consumers,
students must stay in school until graduation and increase their understanding of the
diverse world around them. Yet demographic changes are exerting considerable pressure
on teachers to prepare youth with increasingly different backgrounds and learning
styles. Americans All® seeks to impart appreciation for the value of diversity and
recognition of the social, political and economic contributions of the various groups
peopling the United States.
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. The program will deliver needed resources—instructional materials
and training and support—to enhance student performance and strengthen schools
and communities. It is possible to teach U.S. history as a history that recognizes
the contributions of all people.
Instructional Materials
Schools participating in Americans All® will receive the existing program
resources (see Americans All® Classroom Materials and Teacher Resources).
They will also receive materials developed for and by the state.
Each participating school is guaranteed the following printed resources.
- One Teacher Resource Package. This package contains one complete set of
the existing Americans All® resources with a grade-specific teacher’s guide,
a music CD, the poster collection and the photograph collection.
- Two Teacher Overview Packages. Each package contains one copy of
The Peopling of America: A Timeline of Events That Helped Shape Our Nation,
The Peopling of America: A Synoptic History
and a grade-level-specific teacher’s guide.
- Copies of the newly developed state timeline publication, the state
poster and the state photograph collection with accompanying teacher’s guide
will also be provided.
In addition, educators can access Americans All® generic and state-specific
electronic resources
to update, supplement or, in some cases, replace textbooks no longer meeting their needs.
The data collection effort within each state dramatically increases the control that
principals, teachers and curriculum developers have over the selection of materials
used in classrooms. Educators will know who created the curriculum resources, the
perspective(s) underlying the materials and effective ways to use the resources. In
addition to being sensitive to local and regional concerns, the information will have
been authenticated by the state. Moreover, the state-driven content of the printed
resources and electronic databases will fully support state standards and curriculum
frameworks. 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 as well as
provide many of the resources needed for students receiving special education services.
Training and Support
The Peopling of America recognizes that today’s educators face an enormous
challenge in trying to stay current in their field. They need opportunities that can help
them relate to both the academic and personal development of their students. Moreover,
ever-changing information and new technology make it imperative that they update their
areas of expertise.
Professional Development
The terms “inservice education,” “teacher training,” “staff
development,” “professional development” and “human resource
development” are often used interchangeably. Research on effective professional
development suggests it should aim to increase teachers’ content knowledge and
instructional skills and, ultimately, improve student learning. Professional development
must align closely with school improvement plans and be guided by these questions:
What are our goals for our students? What must we (the adults) learn in order to help
our students learn?
Intellectually rigorous, sustained professional development is needed to make
teachers more effective and achieve student learning goals. Nothing less will get the
job done. For this reason, the national organization will support state-directed efforts
intended to improve teachers’ ability to infuse Americans All® resources
into their own history and civics instruction and increase their understanding of the
interdisciplinary value of these resources.
For five years, The Peopling of America will fund professional development programming
delivered via Internet-based technologies. The process is likely to include sharing
lesson plans, exam questions, methods to meet the needs and interests of all students,
and ways to incorporate technology into the classroom and curricula. It is also
likely to include discussing ways to apply the teacher activities described in the
existing teacher’s guides to state-specific learning scenarios. The importance
of professional development to the successful implementation of Americans All®
cannot be overlooked. Resources will be focused on the knowledge, skills, and attitudes
required of teachers, so all students can learn and perform at high levels.
Biweekly Electronic Newspaper
Supplementing this peer training will be a biweekly electronic newspaper with tools
and techniques to use Americans All® program resources and other useful information
for educators. The newspaper will also link individual schools to a broad network that
will share ideas, best teaching practices, community outreach strategies and ways
to create and reward parental involvement. In addition, the national organization
plans to use workshops and exhibits at educator conferences to gather feedback on
program implementation in the classroom. The feedback will guide future professional
development opportunities.
Registration for Americans All®
Schools clearly need the Americans All® history and civics curriculum resources. Once
it becomes known that funding is available, it is expected that states will immediately
begin the process of qualifying for support from The Peopling of America. This will
require each state to:
- enroll all of their schools that choose to participate in the program;
- create an independent, publicly supported, nonprofit organization to
operate the Americans All®–State program to ensure that all funds received
are directed to the program and are not mixed with state operating funds;
- ensure that all major education and/or education-related organizations within
the state have been notified of the establishment of the Americans All®–State
program; and
- establish a representative, statewide advisory board to run the
state’s program and hire a full-time program coordinator.
Schools choosing to participate in Americans All® must register through its
Web site, because the quantity and composition of existing program resources and new
state-specific resources they will receive at no cost depends on student enrollment. In
addition, each school must provide The Peopling of America with the names of at least
two educators who will serve as contacts to directly receive the materials and ensure
the program resources are put to maximum use. Each school will also need to indicate
whether it has secured its own sponsors or request the national organization’s
help in this regard.
Once a state has met the qualifications to participate in the program and the
appropriate number of sponsors has been secured, the national organization will begin
the implementation process by verifying all school registrations by phone. This process
will confirm the method of payment for the $300 annual participation fee. See Sponsorship
of Americans All®: Investing in Your Community’s Future. It will also confirm
that all registration information is accurate and complete the contact database that
will be used for delivering program materials. Attempts will be made to ensure all
schools choosing to participate have been reached. However, because the program is
voluntary, no effort will be made to “sell” a school on participation.
All schools within each state will receive the state-specific materials and the
biweekly electronic newspaper. Depending on the requirements of each school district,
materials will be shipped in bulk to a central distribution facility or shipped directly
to each school building.
Only participating schools will have access to the printed Americans All®
program resources, the state-specific and generic lesson plans and test questions, the
professional development programs, an enhanced Web site search capability, information
on school-based community outreach strategies, and grant-writing assistance. Only
participating schools can link their Web sites to the Americans All® Web site.
To find out how your school can register to participate in Americans All®,
click here.
|
