In July 2003, the NYC Department of Education Office of Social Studies and the Gotham Center for New York City History convened a team of the city’s major public history institutions to create a comprehensive new series of professional development programs for public school social studies and history teachers.

In the fall of 2003 the Gotham Center and the NYCDOE applied for and received the first of two grants from the United States Department of Education for a total of $4,000,000 for the program series, to be jointly administered. This series, referred to under the umbrella title of New York City and the Nation, has served over 1,600 social studies and history teachers from across the city who have convened to learn history content and methods.

Together with the DOE and partners from NYC cultural institutions, Gotham's Education Department has created and provided week-long summer institutes, year-long Gotham Fellows programs, a Teacher Leadership Program, and classroom mentoring. Led by Pulitzer prize-winning historian Mike Wallace, specialists in a range of content brought graduate level presentations and discussions to the teachers. Workshops and demonstrations illustrated how this new content could be brought into the classroom in creative ways to engage students, raise achievement, stimulate inquiry, and enhance intellectual ability

In its second year, the program moved into the classroom to engage students and evaluate results. The results of these evaluations will be available at the end of the 2006-7 school year.

The goal of New York City and the Nation programming is nothing less than the creation of a corps of master teachers whose leadership among their peers in the New York City public school system will transform student learning in history and social studies.