FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thinking Nation Joins NCHE’s REACH Program to Build a Free, Open-Access Historical Thinking Assessment Platform for Teachers Nationwide
Through its partnership with NCHE on the federally funded REACH program, Thinking Nation is making 100+ primary source assessments with AI-informed grading free for teachers nationwide
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — November 12, 2026: Thinking Nation is proud to support the technological and assessment infrastructure for the National Council for History Education (NCHE) for their federally funded professional learning program for rural K-12 teachers, Rural Educator Ambassadors for Civics and History (REACH). The program is supported by a three-year, $2,529,996 grant from the U.S. Department of Education through the American History and Civics National Activities (AHC-NA) program.
Assessing How Students Think, Not Just What They Recall
Thinking Nation’s role is to help REACH teachers measure whether students can think like historians. The organization is creating historical thinking assessments aligned to NCHE’s History’s Habits of Mind, giving teachers a way to see and demonstrate student proficiency in analyzing evidence, building historical arguments, and applying disciplinary reasoning, rather than relying only on traditional memory-based assessments.
Participating teachers will help shape these tools. They will use the assessments with their students, bring the resulting performance data to their professional learning communities, and use it to reflect on and adjust their instruction throughout the school year.
Open Access for Every Teacher
The assessments will not stay inside the program. Thinking Nation is building an open-access version of its existing platform, which will house all of NCHE’s REACH assessments. Thinking Nation will also contribute a core selection of more than 100 of its own primary source-based assessments, along with hundreds of primary source activities. The assessments, currently behind a paywall, will include AI-informed grading and feedback on student writing. Any teacher, anywhere, will be able to use them at no cost.
The initial version of the open-access platform will launch at NCHE’s annual conference in Providence, Rhode Island in March 2027. In the program’s second and third years, Thinking Nation will continue to refine and improve the platform to prepare for universal, free access beyond the duration of the grant period.
“Making historical thinking assessments available for every classroom in America at no cost can transform history education,” said Zachary Cote, Executive Director of Thinking Nation. “Through this AHC-NA grant we are thrilled to cement a common language for success for teachers across the nation, ensuring that we evaluate what we value: student thinking.”
About the REACH Program
REACH will serve 150 rural teachers over three years, with 50 educators joining each year’s cohort. Participants will build their history content knowledge with scholars, museums, and historic sites, join professional learning communities with colleagues from across the country, and take part in place-based field studies. Each year focuses on one branch of government. Year 1 explores the history and evolution of the Executive Branch through virtual sessions and a summer field study at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta, Georgia. Travel expenses and a completion stipend are included.
“NCHE is thrilled to have this opportunity to work with rural teachers across the country,” said Jessica Ellison, Executive Director of NCHE. “Rural educators have unique assets and challenges, and the REACH grant will provide programming to address these specific needs while building a nationwide network of support.”
Learn More
More information about REACH is available at ncheteach.org/rural-educator-ambassadors-for-civics-and-history
About Thinking Nation
Thinking Nation is a national, nonpartisan 501(c)(3) committed to empowering students to thrive as engaged and critical thinkers by supporting teachers with meaningful curricula, training, and technology to transform social studies education for the future of democracy. Its primary source-based curriculum and assessments teach historical thinking as a discipline, and its online platform gives students and teachers AI-informed feedback on written reasoning in grades 6-12. Nearly 40,000 students learn with Thinking Nation through partner schools across the country, and its free resources are used by teachers well beyond those partnerships. For more information about Thinking Nation or to support the organization's work to transform social studies classrooms across the country, please visit thinkingnation.org/donate.
About the National Council for History Education
The National Council for History Education is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that champions history education and uplifts history education professionals through a national community of practice for history educators who support K-12 learners, a framework of historical thinking rooted in the History’s Habits of Mind, and a focus on local and place-based histories. NCHE provides professional learning opportunities in-person and online, creates freely available History’s Habits of Mind resources, and helps build connections between educators in various locations and at various stages of their careers. Learn more at ncheteach.org.
Media Contact
Nicollette Jimenez, Director of Operations, Thinking Nation, nicollette.jimenez@thinkingnation.org
Jessica Ellison, Executive Director, NCHE