| Grantee Name: | Fresno County Office of Education |
| Project Name: | The Liberty for All Fellowship |
| Project Director: | Sue Baloian |
| Funding: | $3,284,259 over 5 years |
| Number of Teachers Served Overall: | 60 |
| Number of School Districts Served: | 5 |
| Grade Levels: | K-12 |
| Partners: | Franklin's Opus: The American Institute for History Education, The Bill of Rights Institute, The Fresno Historical Society, Fresno Pacific University, Colonial Williamsburg |
| Topics: | Year 1: The Empire vs. the Colonies Year 2: From Unity to Division: The Agrarian South and the Industrial North Year 3: From Division to Unity: War, Reconstruction, and World Power Years 4-5: Liberal Democracy vs. Totalitarianism |
| Methods: | Summer institutes, workshops, colloquia, field-study trips, Talking History Webinars, book clubs, Wiki, technology-enabled real-time lesson observations and reviews, intensive field work for designated master teachers |
Led by the Fresno County Office of Education, a five-county consortium in central California will target schools most in need of improvement for participation in The Liberty for All Fellowship. Nearly a third of these schools have not achieved Adequate Yearly Progress for multiple years, with nearly a tenth undergoing restructuring and four percent of history teachers teaching with emergency or intern credentials. Fellows will have access to at least 18 days of professional development each year: a 2-day fall colloquium, a 1-day fall field study, a 2-day winter colloquium, a 2-day spring workshop, a 1-day spring field study, a 5-day summer institute, a 5-day field study trip, and face-to-face and online history book club meetings. Additional activities will be open to all teachers in the consortium; some activities are for master teachers.
During Year 1, services will be provided to 35 fellows, including 5 master teachers who will deliver turnkey trainings; additional teachers will be added in subsequent years. Fellows will research and study the political, economic, legal, social, and ideological contrasts found throughout American history. Classroom instruction will incorporate reading strategies, Binary Paideia teaching strategies for helping students analyze history, and resources from CICERO. ThereNow’s IRIS (a sophisticated Webcam-like system) will allow coaches and peers to give feedback to teachers as they deliver lessons. Video recordings of workshops and teacher-produced historical narratives, lessons, and activities will be posted online.