History teachers have been feeling left out.

The federal government has focused on reading and math, and some states don't include history in statewide assessments. Even in Virginia -- the birthplace of eight presidents -- test scores show that kids are struggling to retain their history lessons.

"We don't seem to be as important as other areas and we don't like that," said Scott Crawford, K-12 social studies coordinator for Roanoke schools.

Thanks to a national grant program, some history teachers in the Roanoke and New River valleys are finally getting attention.

The U.S. Department of Education has awarded a total of $993,060 to Roanoke, Roanoke County, Salem and Floyd County schools for the development of history teachers. The three-year Teaching American History grant will be used to offer teachers monthly seminars and two weeklong summer seminars and pay for them to take graduate courses.

"We'll be training teachers in graduate course work and in pedagogy," said Beth Mast, social studies coordinator for Roanoke County schools. The plan, she said, is to immerse teachers in U.S. history while providing them with new teaching techniques, with an ultimate goal of increased student achievement in grades four through seven and 11 -- when history is taught.

Statewide, results on Standards of Learning assessments in history -- particularly U.S. history to 1877 -- have been lower than in other subjects.

"History's been a challenge," said Charles Pyle, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Education. "By the nature of the subject, it involves the retention of information."

Some states don't include history in statewide assessments, but, Pyle said, his department believes that the study of history "is an essential part of a well-rounded education and is essential to developing a thoughtful citizenry."

History has been abandoned by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, Crawford said.

"I wish we could be a part of No Child Left Behind," he said. "I think there needs to be an understanding of what this nation is about and the ideals that went into creating this nation."

The four school systems collaborated with the University of Virginia on their grant application.

"We're trying to give teachers a better understanding of traditional democratic ideals" from the time of the country's forefathers to today, Mast said.

Its purpose is threefold, Crawford said: to improve the quality of history instruction, to bring about a greater understanding of U.S. history and to develop students' higher-level thinking skills.

"We're thrilled," said Terry LaRocco, coordinating teacher for Salem schools. "We've not had anything like this before. It gives history education the same kinds of benefits that reading and math and science have been getting for so many years."

The U.S. Education Department created the grant to promote the teaching of traditional American history as a separate subject. It awarded 129 grants nationwide this year.

To qualify, applicants had to partner with one or more universities, history organizations, libraries or museums. The four school systems have formed a partnership with UVa, Virginia Tech, Radford University, the Roanoke Higher Education Center and several history museums and societies.

It hasn't yet been decided how many teachers will be able to participate or who they will be.

Ideally, LaRocco said, "different teachers will be able to move in and out of the program," giving more teachers an opportunity to participate.

Andy Mink, director of outreach and education at UVa's Virginia Center for Digital History, will run the project. Mink said UVa approached several school districts about applying for the grant and chose Roanoke, Roanoke County, Salem and Floyd County based on their interest and because they seemed like a good fit.

"You get a nice cross section of Southwest Virginia society in that partnership," with urban, suburban and rural school districts, Crawford said.

UVa wanted school districts in the viewing range of Roanoke-based television stations WDBJ and WSLS, Mink said, because a summer seminar will focus on the stations' coverage of the Civil Rights movement.

The coverage is in the process of being digitized and is available online at UVa's Virginia Center for Digital History. With the availability of the footage, teachers will be able to research how the movement unfolded in Southwest Virginia and share that with their students.

"It's a tremendous opportunity," Mast said. "Our teachers are very excited and ready to get started."

On the Net:www.vcdh.virginia.edu/civilrightstv/