Awareness
Historical understanding is the foundation. Participants explore timelines, testimony, and context before moving into action.
Active Remembrance 25 Years Later
The National 9/11 Curriculum Framework
A national civic education initiative for the 25th Observance of September 11.
We remember so they never forget. A framework for active remembrance across schools, workplaces, civic organizations, and families, built around five pillars and designed for every generation.
Ambassador Burns / Leadership Under Pressure
1,100+
Memorial sites and local remembrance opportunities
5
Core pillars of 9/11 education
Sept. 2026
Framework launch for the 25th Observance
K-12+
Schools, families, workplaces, and civic groups
How Active Remembrance Works
We Remember So They Never Forget
Participation
Remembrance moves from observation into action through lessons, local memorials, oral histories, and service.
Ownership
Participants recognize their role in carrying memory forward, whether they are students, educators, families, or civic leaders.
Continuation
Remembrance becomes part of ongoing civic culture, not a single annual moment or isolated classroom lesson.
Why this matters now
We are only a few generations away from 9/11 existing exclusively beyond lived memory
For millions of students today, September 11 is history, not memory. They were not born yet. The risk is not that they will forget what happened. The risk is that remembrance becomes abstract, institutional, and disconnected from civic life.
September 11, 2026 marks the 25th Observance. An entire generation has grown up with no firsthand memory of that day.
The number of living witnesses, survivors, first responders, and family members diminishes every year.
Memorials across the United States can become active spaces for research, reflection, service, and civic engagement.
K–12
A unified framework can connect schools, workplaces, families, civic groups, and memorial sites through shared participation.
The future of remembrance depends on participation.
Who are you teaching?
Find the right lesson for your audience
Grades K-5
Elementary
Story-based learning focused on helpers, heroism, and community.
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Grades 6-8
Middle School
Historical understanding, timelines, and civic responsibility.
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Grades 9-12
High School
Policy analysis, primary sources, and debate-driven learning.
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Higher Ed
College & Civic
Deep-dive policy, civil liberties, and civic engagement modules.
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Community
Church & Community
Reflection, remembrance, and service-oriented lesson formats.
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Organizations
Workplace & Groups
Leadership in crisis, decision-making workshops, and panel formats.
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All Ages
Families
Guided conversation frameworks and oral history kits for intergenerational remembrance.
View lessons
Coming Soon
More Audiences
Corporate, military, and veteran community formats in development.
Curriculum framework
The Five Pillars of 9/11 Education
Every lesson is built around one of five pillars, the core themes that give 9/11 its lasting meaning. Each contains four modules expandable across audiences.
Why we teach this
For students born after 2001, 9/11 is history, not memory. This pillar gives them the context behind the morning: the geopolitical conditions, prior attacks, and missed signals that make the events legible.
Why we teach this
September 11 is also a record of people making decisions under pressure: responders, passengers, office workers, neighbors, volunteers, and families acting in the middle of uncertainty.
Why we teach this
September 11 revealed vulnerability, but it also revealed how individuals, organizations, governments, and communities respond during moments of profound disruption.
Why we teach this
What happened after September 11 is as important as what happened on it: the recovery, rebuilding, long-term health consequences, and the work of carrying memory forward.
Why we teach this
The final question every participant should leave with is what this means now: for civic life, leadership, public memory, and the next generation.
Engagement pathways
Ways to actively remember
Active remembrance takes many forms. These pathways are designed for schools, organizations, families, and communities to participate in ways that fit their context.
Local Memorial Engagement
Connect schools, organizations, and families to nearby memorials and transform static monuments into active places for research, reflection, and service.
Explore Pathway
Living Legacy Oral History
Use survivor accounts, first responder testimony, and community oral histories to help participants preserve and carry stories forward.
Explore Pathway
Leadership Under Pressure
Apply real stories from civic and professional leaders to decision-making, resilience, and responsibility today.
Explore Pathway
Community Reflection and Service
Transforms difficult history from something students learn about into something they engage with through conversation, reflection, participation, and service.
Explore Pathway
Everyday Change Makers
Helps participants discover that meaningful change often begins with ordinary people taking small but intentional actions within their communities.
Explore Pathway
Writing as Reflection Pathway
Helps participants recognize that writing is an act of reflection, stewardship, and civic participation that preserves memory and carries lessons forward.
Explore Pathway
Serving in 2026
Family and Philanthropy Pathways
Get notified
Additional pathways are being developed for families, foundations, and community partners ahead of the September 2026 launch.
Built alongside
Educators, historians, first responders, civic leaders, and national institutions
The National 9/11 Curriculum Framework is developed with organizations and advisors committed to education, remembrance, and civic engagement.
Bring 9/11 Education Forward
Use the framework to build age-appropriate lessons, discussions, and acts of remembrance.
Support Active Remembrance
Help the Foundation preserve stories and create meaningful learning for future generations.
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