Please Support Continued Funding for the Teaching American History Grants (TAH)

History Education Hawaii, Inc., is united with the National Council for History Education in promoting the teaching and learning of history. This is accomplished through a wide range of programs and activities designed to bring elementary and secondary teachers, college and university professors and public historians together.

NCHE has councils in more than thirty states that work to promote excellence in history education. Among those is History Education Hawaii, Inc., (HEH) formerly the History Education Council of Hawaii, which was founded in 2006.

Both NCHE and HEH members are united in a belief that history plays a critical role in the K-12 curriculum by providing the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in college and the workplace.

Today, History Education Hawaii is asking Hawaii’s history educators, historians, history buffs and history students throughout the state to contact Senate Daniel Inouye’s office to express continued support for the funding of the Teaching American History Grants (TAH) program.

Funded at $119 million in FY 2010, more than 1,000 grants in all fifty states have been awarded since the program was established in 2002.

TAH grants have provided history and social studies teachers with high quality, university-based professional development that has benefited tens of thousands of students across the nation, including Hawaii.

This critical initiative must be sustained.

In the 1990’s a “Crisis in History” was identified and continues to persist. TAH was started to address the crisis. Currently, TAH continues to be the only program focused on professional development in history to receive federal funding.

If American students are to succeed in the global market place of the 21^st Century, it is the teaching of history, science and other core disciplines that will stimulate interest in academics and prepare students for their future. Rigorous and relevant history curricula can—and does—emphasize reading skills while imparting important knowledge and skills.

Please contact Senator Inouye’s office by going to www.senate.gov today.