Civil Rights Leader Roger Wilkins To Give Lecture as Part of U.S. History Professional Development Program

Three-Year Teaching American History Program Funded by U.S. Department of Education Grant

Civil rights leader, professor, and journalist Roger Wilkins will deliver a lecture on “The Civil Rights Movement and the Second Reconstruction” to teachers on January 31 as part of a three-year professional development program funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), in partnership with the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University, received the Teaching American History grant of almost one million dollars in 2006.

The three-year program, “Conflict and Consensus: Key Moments in U.S. History,” is designed to raise student achievement in eighth and ninth grade American history classrooms by strengthening teacher content knowledge, expanding research skills, increasing resources, and improving teaching techniques.

Professional development workshops for 90 teachers will be held, and nine evening workshops will be open to all MCPS teachers. The workshops bring together American history teachers, including ESOL and special education teachers, with prominent historians to improve teachers’ content knowledge in U.S. history. Each of the three years, a cohort of 30 teachers (15 eighth grade and 15 ninth grade teachers) will attend a two-week summer institute and seven school-year workshops.

Teachers will share their knowledge with colleagues, continue to implement what they have learned, and present at state and national social studies conferences.