BOUCHER ANNOUNCES $1 MILLION FOR SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA TEACHERS

Federal Grant Will Be Used to Advance K-12 American History Programs

            (Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Representative Rick Boucher announced today that, at his urging, the U.S. Department of Education through its Teaching American History Grant Program is providing a federal grant in the amount of $1 million to advance the professional development of American history teachers and improve the quality of history education Southwest Virginia students receive. The grant will be used to provide 40 teachers with graduate courses, teaching resources and mentors from schools such as the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech with the goal of improving history classes in schools across the region.

            “This major provision of federal funding will help ensure that Southwest Virginia teachers have the best possible resources to help their students excel in American history courses,” Boucher said.

            The federal grant has been provided to Wythe County Public Schools in partnership with the Southwest Virginia Public Education Consortium. With the benefit of the federal funds, up to 40 teachers in the Cities of Norton, Bristol and Galax and Lee, Wise Dickenson, Buchanan, Scott, Russell, Tazewell, Washington, Smyth, Wythe, Grayson and Bland Counties will be offered resources including graduate classes, history educator mentors, and online and multi-media classroom tools.

            These new professional development opportunities will allow teachers to provide a better American history education to their students. In the first two years of the program, 24 teachers will be offered the resources, and an additional 16 teachers will join in the third year. K-12 teachers from across the region will be eligible to participate.

            “I am pleased that the Department of Education has provided this measure of federal funding to promote American history understanding and achievement in Southwest Virginia’s schools. Students are the key to our future, and we must prepare them for that future by providing them with them with highly trained teachers who can give them a quality education. Today’s announcement will further this goal,” Boucher concluded.

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