U.S. states take differing approaches to teaching the Sept. 11 attacks in public schools, with some mandating specific lessons and others leaving decisions largely to local districts and educators. Arizona now limits its required anniversary instruction to seventh through 12th grades, while Alabama requires students to examine U.S. military involvement and the federal response to the attacks.
Alabama expanded coverage of the modern era, including 9/11, in a 2024 revision of its social studies standards, according to the state Department of Education. Fifth graders must trace U.S. military involvement in international conflicts since 1980, including conflicts following the attacks, while high school juniors must evaluate the effectiveness of the U.S. response, including the war in Afghanistan, creation of the Department of Homeland Security and passage of the Patriot Act. The law granted the federal government sweeping surveillance powers in pursuing possible terrorists.
Alaska has no statewide requirement or specific policy mandating 9/11 instruction. Its Department of Education & Early Development said state learning objectives support addressing important historical dates and events, which may include Sept. 11, within broader instructional goals. Districts decide whether and how to teach the subject, although the agency is beginning to develop “core knowledge” documents intended to provide more guidance on specific events and dates.
Arizona lawmakers required every public school in 2022 to devote time on or around each 9/11 anniversary to age-appropriate education about the attacks. Three years later, they restricted that mandate to grades seven through 12. Republican state Sen. John Kavanagh, sponsor of the original law, said he supported the revision after concerns were raised about exposing younger students to catastrophic images and the complexity of the subject. State law also directs the Department of Education to provide recommended instructional materials.
Arkansas’ modern U.S. history standards, updated in 2022, require students to explain changes and continuity in foreign policy since the 2001 attacks. The specified subjects include the Bush administration’s response, the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, the Patriot Act and Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, a Supreme Court case concerning the legal rights of U.S. citizens detained as “enemy combatants.”
California law has encouraged public schools since 2021 to hold a moment of silence each Sept. 11, but decisions about classroom treatment are generally made locally, the state Department of Education said. State guidance suggests that high school students may examine international conflict after 9/11, presidential power, national security and civil liberties. Colorado likewise gives districts considerable flexibility, while its social studies standards identify the war on terror—including 9/11, the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, Middle Eastern discrimination and the development of U.S. counterterrorism efforts—as possible high school history topics.