08.01.16

Durbin Announces More Than $615,000 to Develop Teaching Resources, Professional Development Opportunities in Illinois

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced today four Illinois education organizations will receive a total of $615,164 in grant funding through the Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) Program, a federal grant program administered by the Library of Congress to develop teaching resources and professional development opportunities that focus on the effective use of digitized primary sources in K-12 classrooms.
  
“The Library of Congress is an invaluable resource to students and educators across the country,” Durbin said. “This funding will enable K-12 teachers in Illinois to take full advantage of the resources offered by the Library of Congress to develop new skills and better engage students.”
  
·         Governors State University (University Park, Illinois): $202,115
·         Rockford University (Rockford, Illinois): $117,049
·         Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (Edwardsville, Illinois): $46,000
·         Barat Education Foundation (Chicago, Illinois): $250,000
  
Additionally, Illinois State University will receive $630,000 in funding to continue its role coordinating TPS activity in 17 states under the TPS Midwest Region.  This funding will allow Illinois State University to make smaller grant awards to expand the TPS Program in the Midwest, including Illinois.
  
The Library of Congress, the nation’s first federal cultural institution, is the world’s preeminent reservoir of knowledge, providing unparalleled integrated resources to Congress and the American people. In 2005, as Ranking Member of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee, Senator Durbin worked to authorize what is now known as the Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) Program.  The TPS Program provides extensive professional development opportunities for educators and enables the development and dissemination of teaching materials focused on using the Library’s digitized primary sources. Over the last decade, countless teachers and students across Illinois have been able to use the Library’s resources as a result of the training provided by TPS.