History is more than just memorizing dates and places, says Nancy McTygue.

"History teaches kids how to think, write and read," said McTygue, the executive director of the California History-Social Science Project and director of the UC Davis History Project. "These skills are invaluable in any job they get after leaving school."

That fact is not lost on policymakers and educators. The UC Davis History Project is part of a growing statewide effort to improve historical knowledge and literacy. In 1988, the California Legislature created nine subject matter projects, including history. UC Davis undertook its history project in 1991 and, at last count, 26 history professors and 10 staff members were helping primary school instructors around the region teach history more effectively.

One of them is Alan Taylor, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and history professor who serves as the pro-ject's principal faculty adviser. For Taylor, the proper use of language in the academic context is a driving force behind the History Project effort. Unfortunately, today's students too often lack those writing skills, he added.

"We see it at the university level," Taylor said. "We get bright, eager students who don't understand the fundamentals of writing."

Taylor has noticed a "dramatic" decline in his students' writing quality over the past 15 years. One reason, he said, is the weakness of history curricula at low-achieving schools that narrowly tailor their instruction for standardized tests.

"Teachers are training students to take exams," he said.

One way to solve this, Taylor believes, is through collaborations like the History Project that are aimed at giving low-achieving schools and their instructors options beyond just teaching their students to pass standardized tests.

Or, as Taylor put it, "We're providing ammunition for teachers to resist this trend."

Local schools

At UC Davis, the History Project offers about 150 workshops and institutes each year that reach about 450 local teachers. The courses not only demonstrate how to meet state standards, but also aim to boost students' interest in history and analytical skills.

Several afternoon-long workshops are offered each month at local schools and community centers. Institutes offered during the summer run from five days to almost two weeks and cover such topics as teaching American and world history and building academic literacy.

And the History Project is delivering results.

An external evaluation has shown that students of teachers who participated in History Project institutes perform better on standardized tests and showed clear improvement on discipline-specific essays. For Taylor, this is proof that writing skills can improve with the right amount of attention.

The History Project concentrates its efforts on schools that have neglected teaching history to instead focus on improving students' scores on reading and mathematics tests. Students at such schools sometimes do not take their first social studies class until 10th grade. That means they have missed out on the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and California history.

"It's important for students to get that content," McTygue said. "Moreover, if they don't get exposure to that type of text, it's very difficult to pick that up in 10th grade.

"It's not only limiting their knowledge of American and world history," she added, "but limiting their ability to read and write at the highest level."

McTygue participated in a History Project workshop while teaching history and government at Will C. Wood High School in Vacaville several years ago, and liked what she learned. She came on board in 2000, and last year became executive director at the state level.

Of the nine subject matter tests, the campus also hosts writing, math, science and arts programs. History is unique though, said McTygue, because it is the only subject to be run within a department. As a result, McTygue said, the History Project receives some benefits.

"We have an unusually high level of support from our home department," she said. "They don't just give us lip service, they genuinely care. They get to know the teachers, they present in schools all over the region. I feel very fortunate to have that kind of support."

The faculty members who are involved lead workshops and institutes and assist with grant writing.

Writing grants is vital to the History Project's survival. McTygue's group receives no university funding and — despite being state-mandated — gets only 10 percent of its budget from the state. The remaining 90 percent comes from grants.

In November, the organization was awarded a California Postsecondary Education Commission grant with the Sacramento Area Science Project for professional development in Sacramento's Grant Joint Union High School District over the next three years.

The California History-Social Science Project is located on UC campuses at Los Angeles, Berkeley and Irvine, as well as UC Davis. CHSSP sites can also be found at CSU Chico, Fresno and Long Beach/Dominguez Hills.

For more information about the UC Davis History Project, visit historyproject.ucdavis.edu. For information about the statewide project, visit csmp.ucop.edu/chssp.