David Burns is a native of Newport News, Virginia, and is a Social Studies teacher (retired now!) and writer in Springfield, Virginia.  As a 28 year classroom veteran at the high school and middle school levels in Fairfax County, he has taught American history, Government, Journalism, and Civics.

   Mr. Burns is a graduate of the University of Virginia (B.A., 1974) and Columbia University (M.S., 1978).  Before becoming an educator, he worked as an on-air reporter and documentary producer for many years at television stations in Charlottesville, Virginia, and Rochester, New York.  His reports have appeared nationally on PBS and CNN.  Mr. Burns is a past winner of the New York State Bar Association's Media Award for journalistic contributions to the administration of justice.

   Mr. Burns developed the Fasttrack American History Project and the Fasttrack Civics Project as Internet sites for teachers and students. He is  the author of Fasttrack to America's Past, Fasttrack Civics, and Frameworks for America's Past, which are widely-used study guides for U.S. history and Civics.