The Ashbrook Center at Ashland University has received a $2.5 million seed grant from the Ariel Corporation to expand its teacher education programs. This gift, given over two years, will enable Ashbrook to address civic illiteracy – the serious national problem created by the failure to educate the next generation about what it means to be an American.

Ashbrook has developed a powerful set of national education programs for American history, government and civics teachers to address this problem. Ranging from online classroom resources to a full Master of Arts degree, Ashbrook programs provide the kind of sustained education necessary to change how American history is taught in classrooms across the country.

Ariel’s gift will enable Ashbrook to encourage thousands of teachers to end their dependency on textbooks and teach instead with primary source documents. Ashbrook has a great deal of evidence – both quantitative and qualitative – that teaching with documents is highly effective in increasing teacher and student knowledge and appreciation for America’s founding principles.