ABSTRACT
Th e American History Teachers’ Collaborative is a Teaching American History grant project that has been directed by Urbana School District No. 116, Urbana, Illinois, since 2003 (https://www.americanhistoryteachers.org). Four Teaching American History grants (2003, 2005, 2007, 2008) have provided funding for the American History Teachers’ Collaborative (AHTC) to serve K-12 teachers in a consortium of small urban and rural school districts. Urbana School District partners with local archives and museums in central Illinois, as well as archives in Springfi eld and Chicago, to provide unique hands-on historical research experiences for participating teachers. Th e AHTC provides content-driven in-service opportunities to teachers of American history in the public schools of central Illinois. Th is project has three specifi c goals. Th e fi rst goal is to improve teachers’ American history content knowledge. Th e second goal is to provide teachers with direct access to historical artifacts and primary sources so that they can better view national issues in history through the lens of local events. Th e fi nal goal is to disseminate content knowledge and foster communication of best practices in the teaching of American history in order to increase student achievement. Th is chapter explores the impact on teachers and students of this focus on local and regional primary documents.
