Social Studies Standards Revision Process and Our Upcoming Board Meeting

My Views Are My Own

By Lisa Schonhoff, Ed.S.

8/26/2026

Nebraska Revised Statute 79-760.01 requires the Nebraska State Board of Education to “adopt measurable academic content standards for at least the grade levels required for statewide assessment.”  The Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) began the revision of the 2019 Nebraska Social Studies Standards in February of 2025 with anticipated adoption in the Fall of 2026. 

Typically, a team of educators from across the state works to develop and revise content standards.  Unfortunately, the social studies standards from 2019 received a D- rating from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.  “The Thomas B. Fordham Institute has been reviewing state standards for more than twenty years…the review team itself—include both practicing educators and other subject-matter experts.” 

The report states that “Nebraska’s rigidly thematic standards do not even attempt a substantive historical outline, stressing analysis over memorization yet doing almost nothing to help teachers and districts identify the actual history to be analyzed.”   It is also noted that the examples in the standards “are confusing, if not downright misleading.”  The Fordham Institute recommends a complete revision before implementation.

Civics Alliance also recommends a complete overhaul of the 2019 Nebraska Social Studies Standards.  Civics Alliance stated that the social studies standards consist “almost entirely of hollow “skills” prompts without substantive content, worsened slightly by muffled prompts toward politicized pedagogy.^[5]”  Civics Alliance recommends that the Nebraska Department of Education end their dependence on National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) Materials:

"Many flaws in the Nebraska’s Standards proceed from one general cause: the Standards unfortunately derive too much of their structure and emphases from the National Council for the Social Studies’ (NCSS) ideologically extreme definition of social studies,^[8] as well as from the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards.^[9] The C3 Framework in particular replaces content knowledge with insubstantial and opaque “inquiry”; replaces social studies pedagogy with identity politics ideologies such as Critical Race Theory; and inserts ideologically extreme activism pedagogies such as Action Civics.^[10] The revised Standards should not be informed either by the NCSS’s ideologically extreme definition of social studies or by the NCSS’ C3 Framework.” 

While several board members have expressed satisfaction with the 2019 social studies standards, I believe targeted revisions are necessary. At a minimum, direct sources should be mandated for examples such as the Federalist Papers and the Abolitionist Seminar.  We must remove subjective wording and ambiguous phrases that create confusion. Standards exist precisely to ensure that students learn factual history while keeping personal biases out of the curriculum.  Because current standard-writing practices have left significant gaps in student knowledge, this work may require partnership with an external organization.

The State Board of Education will be taking public comment both in person and in writing.  In person public comment will take place at the Friday, September 4, 2026 meeting after the President’s Report.  Persons who wish to address the Board in person at the meeting should plan to arrive and sign-in with official NDE representatives.  Members of the public may submit written public comment in lieu of live testimony. Written Public Comment for the September 4, 2026 State Board Meeting will open on August 27, 2026. Please check back for instructions on submitting written public comment at that time.

Photo Credit: 50 Essential Documents | The Abolition Seminar