Houston Independent School District

Serving as the Local Education Agency for the T3AH grant, the Houston Independent School District (HISD) is recognized as one of the leading urban school districts in the nation. HISD with more than 200,000 students and encompassing 301 square miles of greater Houston is the seventh-largest public school system in the nation and the largest in Texas. The 295 schools in the district are divided into five geographic regions by feeder patterns composed of specific elementary, middle, and high schools.  HISD serves a diverse student population. The ethnic composition of the HISD student body is 59% Hispanic, 29% African-American, and 11% White and Asian/Pacific Islander. Seventy-eight percent (78%) is economically disadvantaged and 93% qualify for Title I funds. LEP/ESL students comprise approximately 35% of the entire student body. In addition to the student demographics, based on the 2007 survey data, many teachers on the low-performing campuses lack background knowledge and certification to be highly quali-fied American history teachers. 

The University of Houston

The University of Houston, the major public university in the Houston area, has a strong commitment to advanced history, teacher, and technology education. This university is the leading urban research university in Texas. Many graduates of Harris County schools attend UH. The collaboration between the UH Department of History, the College of Education, including the Instructional Technology Department builds on previous collaborations between HISD and the University and benefits the community to promote a college-bound culture for students.

The UH Department of History provides content expertise for the T3AH grant. Dr. Steve Mintz will coordinate contacts within the UH History Department and with other historians in institutions across the country. In addition to historians from UH, consultant contracts with individual history professors from other local universities including Rice University, Texas Southern University, The University of St. Thomas and institutions outside the Houston area will provide speakers for various topics included in the T3AH grant initiatives.

The UH College of Education was named the 2007 Distinguished Program in Teacher Education by the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE). The collaboration with History Education and Educational Technology professors in the College will improve the quality of pedagogy and instructional support grant teachers will receive. The partnership includes: 1) providing noted history, education, and technology professors; 2) providing a venue for the yearly T3AH Summer History Institute and year-round workshops in Lesson Study Protocol and Historical Literacy Strategies in each grant year; 3) providing ongoing support for T3AH vertical teams on the priority campuses through support from professors and UH graduate assistants in American history education; 4) providing online resources, including technology for web-based discussion groups, seminars, and video-conferencing to facilitate networking among grant teachers; and 5) providing opportunities for T3AH teachers to earn graduate credit through the University. Dr. Cameron White, Professor of History Education, and Dr. Sara McNeil will represent the University as university coordinators of the T3AH Planning Team.

The Bill of Rights Institute

The Bill of Rights Institute provides American history content expertise and interactive teaching strategies through leadership in two T3AH one-day History Workshops during each year of the grant. (See details in Appendix B for content and structure of the workshops) A partnership with the National Archives and Records Administration – Southwest Re-gion helps teachers learn more about accessing and using rich varieties of primary sources and research methodology to improve their content knowledge of American history and instruction for students. Using the themes of American Revolutions in Democracy and Freedom to examine Community, Change, and Conflict during the 17th to the 21st centuries, NARA will lead two history workshops using primary sources during each year of the grant. They will provide content expertise using both traditional workshop and video conferencing formats.

The Museum of Fine Arts Houston

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston has one of the country’s premier material culture col-lections at its Bayou Bend museum and is strongly committed to educational outreach. In this grant collaboration, museum experts will provide two of the T3AH Content Workshops per year focusing on the visual literacy component of historical analysis and interpretation.

Digital History

The online library, Digital History (www.digitalhistory.uh.edu) is one of the top 5 American history resources as named by Best of History websites and was selected by EdSITEment as an exemplary online resource. In addition to providing online texts and teaching resources, through this collaboration, T3AH teachers will access and develop new lessons for Digital History focusing on collections of primary sources and using the Lesson Study protocol.