Smithtown Central School District
                                                                                                                                            Smithtown, New York

		Controversies in American History The Smithtown School District is a recipient of a United States Department of Education Teaching American History Grant. The program is a discretionary grant program funded under Title II-C, Subpart 4 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The goal of the program is to support programs that raise student achievement by improving teachers' knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of American history. The purpose of the grant is to promote the teaching of traditional American history in elementary and secondary schools as a separate academic subject. Grants are used to improve the quality of history instruction by supporting professional development for teachers of American history.  Controversies in American History is in partnership with the William Floyd School District, the Gilder Lehrman Institute for American History, Stony Brook University and the Cooperative Learning Center of the University of Minnesota. The grant program provides teachers with instruction by eminent historians and opportunities to learn, discuss and apply cooperative learning techniques to the classroom. By helping teachers to develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of American history as a separate subject matter within the core curriculum, funded programs such as the Controversies in American History will improve instruction and raise student achievement.  The goal of this program is to demonstrate how school districts and institutions with expertise in American history can collaborate over a three-year period to ensure that teachers develop the knowledge and skills necessary to teach American history in an exciting and engaging way.  This unique comprehensive professional development approach provides high-quality American history instruction for teachers who will apply their knowledge to the classroom.  The teachers will then bring to their students an appreciation for the great ideas, conflicts and personalities of American history.