| Grantee Name: | Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit, PA |
| Project Name: | Link to Liberty: The Pennsylvania Connection to American History |
| Project Director: | Kathleen Hummel |
| Funding: | $1,543,630 |
| Number of Teachers Served: | 90 |
| Number of School Districts Served: | 9 |
| Number of Students Served: | 561,226 |
| Grade Levels: | 7-12 |
| Partners: | Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Millersville University, WITF, Inc. |
| Topics: | Entrepreneurship, labor, immigration, and reform movements |
| Methods: | ExplorePAhistory.com, summer residential graduate course, field trips to historical sites, two one-credit (30-hour) distance learning courses |
The project will address the need for intensive, sustained professional development of 30 teachers per year from schools in Need of Improvement, Corrective Action, or Restructuring. It will investigate the principles embodied in pivotal words, deeds, and events occurring in Pennsylvania, a colony based on William Penn's concepts of religious tolerance, participatory government, and brotherly love. Program objectives include increasing content knowledge, improving classroom practices, and increasing student knowledge of American History. At each of the approximately 15 historical sites, participants will meet with curators, archivists, and museum educators. Through content learning, development of lesson plans, and new exposure to new instructional strategies, participants will explore The Vision of William Penn, Abraham Lincoln and the Politics of Civil War, The Railroad in Pennsylvania, Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Immigration, Women's Suffrage, Worker Rights, and the Philadelphia and Gettysburg Campaigns.
