Twenty-five years ago on Sept. 11, 2001, the United States was attacked by terrorists. Nearly 3,000 people, including over 400 emergency workers, lost their lives that fateful Tuesday morning, making it the largest loss of life from a foreign attack in U.S. history.
I was in fifth grade on 9/11. Fast forward to my first year of teaching fifth graders, and I discovered that they did not know much about the attacks in general or the courage of those who fought against the hijackers. It got me wondering whether or not students learn about Sept. 11 at all during their K-12 years.
In Minnesota, it used to be included in the state’s K-12 social studies standards.
2004 social studies standards
Approved by the legislature in 2004, Minnesota’s first statewide social studies standards covered Sept. 11 in a U.S. history benchmark for grades 4-8 and a high school world history benchmark. (Four other benchmarks listed the War on Terrorism/terrorism in provided examples.)
United States History Grades 4-8: Contemporary America (1980-present)
Students will analyze challenges of a post-communist world, especially September 11, 2001 and its aftermath.
World History Grades 9-12: The Post-War Period (1945-present)
Students will demonstrate knowledge of the continuing impact of September 11, 2001.
2011 social studies standards
Both of the above 9/11 benchmarks were not included in the 2011 social studies standards that were used through the 2025-26 school year. There was a high school benchmark that required students to explain the United States’ involvement in world affairs, including the “global war on terror,” and its effect on modern foreign policy.
United States History Grades 9-12: The United States in a New Global Age (1980-present)
Explain how United States involvement in world affairs after the Cold War, including the global war on terror, continues to affect modern foreign policy.
2021 social studies standards
As of this school year (fall 2026), new social studies standards and benchmarks are being implemented in Minnesota classrooms. They also do not mention Sept. 11. One high school benchmark requires students to evaluate how responses to foreign and domestic terrorism in the United States “have been influenced by xenophobic and Islamophobic perspectives.”
U.S. History Era 9: Contested Freedoms
Identify and evaluate how governmental and non-governmental institutions have responded to foreign and domestic terrorism in the United States. Identify and evaluate how those responses have been influenced by xenophobic and Islamophobic perspectives.
What about other states?
An Associated Press analysis found that 25 states have laws or education standards that require or expect public schools to provide instruction specifically on the Sept. 11 attacks. Thirteen states suggest teaching 9/11, and several states have laws requiring or recommending school observances.
State approaches to teaching about 9/11 differ, according to The AP. And certain states have had the event included in state law and/or academic standards for some time, while others have just recently added Sept. 11-specific requirements.
9/11 Education in Public Schools
This year, Iowa approved new social studies standards that require high schoolers to “assess government responses to domestic challenges” including the Sept. 11 attacks. High schoolers will also analyze President George W. Bush’s address to Congress post 9/11. Seventh graders will “analyze the major forces in the Middle East since the 1970s,” including the War on Terrorism.
Idaho’s social studies standards were revised last year and now include a requirement for high schoolers to “evaluate the motivations behind domestic and non-state aligned terrorism, assess governmental responses including those after September 11, 2001, and analyze the causes, progression, and aftermath of the War on Terror in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
Fifth graders in Alabama are now required to “trace the United States’ military involvement in international conflicts since 1980, including those following the Sept. 11 attacks.” High school juniors must “evaluate the effectiveness of the United States’ response” to 9/11, including the war in Afghanistan, the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, and passage of the Patriot Act. These changes were made under a 2024 revision to the state’s standards.
Florida’s 2023 law requires middle- and high-school students to receive at least 45 minutes of instruction on 9/11 in their civics education class. Topics to cover include the historical context of global terrorism, a timeline of events on Sept. 11, 2001, the “selfless heroism” of the police officers, firefighters, paramedics, other first responders, and civilians involved, and remembering those who were “killed, wounded, or suffered sickness due to the terrorist attacks on or after that date.” The state’s civics standards also include Sept. 11.
Texas covers 9/11 at multiple points in high school, according to The AP’s analysis. Newly adopted (and contested) social studies standards set to take effect in 2030-31 add language attributing the attacks to “radical Islam” rather than “a more narrow focus on the terrorist groups involved,” explains Fox News. A 2013 law separately requires a moment of silence in schools and a teacher “statement of reference to the memory of individuals who died” each Sept. 11.
New York’s social studies framework has students study the attacks in eighth grade, 10th grade, and as juniors, covering topics such as the effects of 9/11 on national security, the war on terror, and the U.S. public’s and government’s reaction to the attacks, including “controversial foreign and domestic policies.” The state also passed a law in 2019 for a brief period of silence in schools on Sept. 11.
Massachusetts’ social science “framework” has included 9/11 since 2003, the state education department told The AP. High school students are required to “evaluate the effectiveness of the federal government’s response to international terrorism in the 21st century,” including 9/11 and the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
The Minnesota Department of Education told The AP that the state’s social studies standards “generally focus on big themes, eras and context, and they don’t specifically mention 9/11.” (But they used to!)
Minnesota educators could certainly be teaching this content on their own, even without its specific inclusion in the new state standards. And I hope they are. But like other subject matter that used to be specifically referenced and no longer is, the vagueness of Minnesota’s new social studies standards and the lens through which they were written are a concerning shift that should be watched closely.
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For more on how other states approach 9/11 education, go here. Make sure to also check out our latest podcast episode “Remembering 9/11 – 25 Years Later” featuring John Ondrasik.