Published: April 03, 2008 04:40 pm      

History lesson — Boucher triumphs for education

A $992,501 federal grant to advance the professional development of American history teachers in Southwest Virginia is indeed a giant step for education.

U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., said Tuesday the U.S. Department of Education at his urging is providing the federal grant that will be used to provide graduate courses at the University of Virginia and UVA Wise, workshops and field experience to American history teachers in 16 counties across Southwest Virginia, including Tazewell, Buchanan, Wythe and Bland counties.

Boucher said the federal dollars will help to ensure that teachers in Southwest Virginia have the best possible resources to help their students excel in American history courses. The federal grant is being provided to Norton City Schools in partnership with the Southwest Virginia Public Education Consortium, UVA Wise, the University of Virginia and the Virginia Historical Society.

With the benefit of the federal funds, teachers in the 16 Southwest Virginia counties will be offered courses in American History for graduate credit toward a masters degree in education. Boucher said teachers additionally will be able to attend workshops, participate in field trips and experience other “hands-on learning opportunities.”

He said the professional development opportunities will allow teachers to provide a better American History education to their students. The courses will be offered to groups of 15 teachers at a time, focusing first on teachers of grades five and six. By the end of the three-year program, Boucher said more than 350 teachers of all grade levels from the 16 localities in the Southwest Virginia Public Education Consortium will have participated.

We applaud Boucher and the U.S. Department of Education for providing this welcomed funding assistance to our Southwest Virginia educators.

The youth of Southwest Virginia are our future. However, in order to properly educate and prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow, we also must educate them about our past. That’s the job of our local history teachers.

The new graduate courses, workshops and field experiences the federal funding award will provide an indelible benefit for years to come.