Teaching:

• Increased knowledge of scholarship on the history of the struggle for democracy in America.
  
• Increased ability to teach students (including English language learners) to read historical documents and to write coherent and thoughtful historical essays, papers, and accounts.
  
• Increased use of primary and secondary sources.
  
•  Use of the textbook as part of the curriculum, not as the curriculum.
  
• The development and teaching of lessons, units, and assessments, focused on democracy, that incorporate state and district standards.
  
• Sharing, critiquing, and building upon classroom practice.

Student Learning:

• Increased engagement in the study of American History.
  
• Improved ability to read and write history.
  
• Increased numbers of student choosing to take and then succeeding on tests that measure historical knowledge and understanding. (i.e. Golden State and AP)
  
• Greater understanding of how individuals and groups have struggled for a more democratic society and a greater understanding of how they and their classmates connect to that history.

As a Project:

• Work that will inform and assist teachers of American History beyond the ninety that will participate during the three years of the grant.
  
• Participating teachers work with colleagues, in a variety of settings, to improve the teaching and learning of American History both within and beyond the district.
  
• Learning how the teaching of a concept can be articulated forstudents at different developmental levels.
  
• Development of a body of classroom lessons, units, and assessments that pull together the OUSD historical thinking standards and instruction about democracy in American History in grades 5, 8, and 11.