The Project was designed to deliver a three-year program of professional development and training in American history content and to provide quality instruction to middle and high school teachers. The Project's outcome will result in a sustainable network that will provide continuing history education and professional development for those teachers.

         The TRADITION project will include a two-week summer institute each year, four institute follow-up days each year, an interactive website, and a one-week trip to the Washington D.C. area during the second year.
         Teams consisting of middle school teachers and high school teachers will be generated. The team structure will help support a dialogue on the concepts and principles that are the framework of American history. The Project will provide stipends of $105 a day to teachers in teams and $75 a day for single teachers. The exception to this rule will be for schools with less than 250 students.

         The local institutes will be held for two weeks in the summers of 2004 and 2005. The 2005 summer institute will have an aditional third week (after the first two weeks in Vallejo) in Washington D.C.

         The four follow-up days each year will normally take place in October, December, February, and April. The follow-up content will include team meetings to support a greater articulation between the 8th and 11th grade American history teachers, and meetings with teachers to identify outstanding curriculum and share effective strategies in improving student writing and reading skills.

         The Project will establish an interactive website at www.sonoma.edu for two purposes: to post model interactive projects and to create a virtual community of project teachers to continue the dialogue throughout the year.