HTA News, March 1986

The HTA, a joint program of the Organiza­tion of American Historians, National Council for the Social Studies, and AHA, continues to enjoy great success in the organization of university-sec­ondary school teaching collaboratives. As reported in last month’s Perspectives, nineteen new projects located in seven­teen states have been accepted by the Alliance this year. These teaching col­laboratives will join our five projects already in operation bringing the total number of 1986-87 Alliance projects to twenty-four collaboratives and twenty states.

The goal of the Alliance remains sim­ple: to bring together university and secondary school history teachers pro­viding them with the opportunity to join as colleagues in an intensive study of history. To that end, the Alliance guides the development of community-based collaboratives engaging all historians—university teachers, high school faculty, and public historians. The collabora­tives are organized as year-long semi­nars—a two-week summer institute fol­lowed by monthly meetings throughout the school year. The seminars engage no more than twenty participants from the university and secondary schools and have four principal goals:

1. that teachers at all levels will come together as resource colleagues recog­nizing the professionalism of one an­other;
2. that the collaboratives be conduct­ed as seminars, not lectures, in which all participants—those in the colleges and those in the secondary schools—contribute;
3. that the seminars be content­ based. In 1986-87, Alliance collabor­atives will focus their discussions on the US Constitution;
4. perhaps most significantly, we ask that all participants make an on-going commitment to the collaborative pro­ject. We ask participants to come to­gether for two weeks in the summer, but then to continue to meet throughout the school year, and for the uni­versity and secondary school districts to commit their efforts to maintain the collaborative in the years which follow.

In other words, we seek to create a set of conditions through which teachers at all levels continue to work together as re­ source colleagues for each other sharing their ideas, knowledge, and classroom strategies. Equally important, the Alli­ance provides the opportunity for them to come to know each other as fellow professionals and friends. This can only result in improved history education at all levels.

This past summer, five History Teaching Alliance collaboratives began their seminars on the Constitution in Marietta, GA; Asheville, NC; Louisville, KY; Clemson, SC; and Gainesville, FL. Early reports from the project directors of these five collaboratives, as well as those of all teacher-participants, con­firm that these programs are a success. Much of that success is owed to the dedication and long hours of prepara­tion brought to these collaboratives by their project directors: Marietta—Anne Ellis, Chair, Department of History and Helen Ridley, Department of Political Science, Kennesaw College; Asheville­—Alice Mathews, Department of History, West Carolina University; Louisville—Mary K. B. Tachau, Department of His­tory, University of Louisville; Clemson­—John Johnson, Department of History, Clemson University, and Gainesville—Gus Burns, Department of History, University of Florida.

The operational costs for each of the Alliance projects is approximately $10,080. This money is used to pay stipends to the project director, the university, and the secondary school teacher-participants, as well as provide small honoraria to public speakers. Generous funding from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has enabled the Al­liance to provide a full-year of support to its five collaboratives in 1985-86 and seed-money grants to most of its colla­boratives in 1986-87. With the active support of The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, the Alliance seeks the remaining funds needed from local corporate and foundation sponsors. Many of these groups have already pledged their support for the Alliance project in their community and include: Atlantic Richfield Corporation; Duke Power Company, Time, Inc.; the Martha Stevens Piper Founda­tion; The Kempner Fund; The Brown Foundation; Florida Endowment for the Humanities; WCZY-FM of Detroit. Other potential funders are currently considering Alliance proposals and we look forward to announcing news of their support shortly.

As always, the Alliance welcomes in­quiries from historians interested in forming collaboratives in their communities. Those interested should contact the History Teaching Alliance, 400 A St., SE, Washington, D.C. 20003.