Teaching with Primary Sources Mississippi receives continued grant from the Library of Congress

Mississippi State’s Teaching with Primary Sources Mississippi initiative is the recipient of a $30,000 regional grant from the Library of Congress to extend work developing a graduate-level course on teaching with primary sources. This grant also supports the development of a series of three online, asychronous and self-paced professional development modules for teachers interested in teaching with primary sources.

TPSM in MSU’s College of Education is part of the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources consortium. TPS serves to enhance the education of students through providing instructors with resources from the Library of Congress’s vast collection of research, data, literature and more.

In the original 2016-2017 grant, TPSM partnered with the Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District to support teachers making more effective use of Library of Congress resources to enhance student learning. Several SOCSD teachers participated in TPSM professional development throughout the academic year, and they received technology to encourage more effective pedagogy.

Over the last six years, this TPSM outreach has expanded throughout the state.

Since 2016, Kenneth Anthony, Nicole Miller and Paul Binford, faculty members in MSU’s Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education, have received over $1 million in grants from the Library of Congress. TPSM has largely focused on providing professional development through presentations, workshops, online sessions, and summer institutes.

Miller said, “This regional grant will allow TPS Mississippi to continue to serve teachers of Mississippi by providing additional professional development and graduate course opportunities. Given that professional development for social studies education, and Teaching with Primary Sources in particular, is often limited, this grant helps to fill that gap.”

Binford said, “The Teaching with Primary Sources grant supports the college and department’s efforts to impact the quality of education in the state of Mississippi. The professional development we have been able to provide through this grant—even during COVID—has impacted over 2,000 teachers in all corners of the state.”

Established in 1903, MSU’s College of Education is home to six academic departments, one research unit and numerous service units. For more about the college, visit www.educ.msstate.edu.