The 2027 AHA K–16 Content Cohort at the annual meeting in New Orleans will bring together 25 history educators from K–12 schools, community colleges, and four-year institutions to explore histories relevant to recent headlines. This program provides a structured experience to help navigate the largest annual history conference in the United States and delve into the potential implications of new scholarship for the history classroom.
Program Description
This year’s content cohort theme is The History of Now: Using Recent US Foreign Policy to Contextualize Current Events. Students are often eager to discuss major global developments and contemporary international issues, yet many educators have had limited 
opportunities to engage with recent scholarship on modern US foreign policy and its global consequences. Through collaborative discussions with historians and fellow educators, cohort participants will examine new historical research and consider ways to connect scholarship on the recent past to classroom teaching, helping students place current events in deeper historical context.
Participants will form a cross-sector community of practice dedicated to exploring the relationship between historical scholarship and teaching. Through seminar-style discussions with colleagues and leading historians, cohort members will collaborate across institutional boundaries to add depth and nuance to the histories they share with students. The cohort offers a structured and welcoming way to navigate the AHA annual meeting while creating space for sustained conversation about how new research can inform history education at every level.
Applications to join the content cohort are open to educators and pre-service teachers who work in secondary, post-secondary, or public history contexts. We welcome the participation of middle and high school teachers and curriculum specialists; faculty at two- and four-year colleges; and museum educators or others engaged in educational programs for the public. Preference will be given to early career classroom educators, and at least 15 spots will be reserved for middle and high school teachers.
All participants in the Content Cohort must register to attend the annual meeting. Anyone may register to attend the annual meeting, whether or not they are accepted for the Content Cohort.
AHA staff will contact cohort participants after the end of the annual meeting to schedule an optional follow-up session.