Tuesday, January 20, 2026

New Social Studies Standards

Iowa's new Social Studies standards were adopted by the State Board of Education on January 15, 2026. Over the past year, the state of Iowa completed a full rewrite of the Social Studies standards. Unlike ELA, Math, and Science—which focused on refining existing expectations—Social Studies required more significant change to strengthen clarity, coherence, and rigor across grades. 

Schools will have a 3 year timeline for full implementation.  Our first step with the new standards will be to build familiarity.  We can do this by reviewing the K-12 Social Studies Storylines, the Content Comparison Chart, and becoming familiar with the language of the new standards. 

The full standards document is linked below and has been uploaded to the Social Studies page of the Teaching and Learning site.  In addition, the page also has links for each individual grade level as well as 9-12 courses.  

Please feel free to reach out to the Teaching and Learning team to help support the first step of building familiarity with the new standards. We appreciate the work you do every day to help students understand the world around them.

New Social Studies Standards

Adopted January, 2026


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Thursday, January 15, 2026

Changes to ISASP and an Opportunity to Participate in Standard Setting

There will be some changes to the ISASP test this spring.  As a part of these changes, the Department of Education is seeking qualified individuals to participate in establishing new performance standards.  Please see the information at the end of the blog if you are interested. 

Changes for ISASP 2026

  • ELA and Math tests will have additional content coverage (more items) and stronger alignment to the standards. 
  • A similar process will follow for Science in 2027--Science will remain the same for 2026.
  • The Math test will be in an adaptive format this year. 
  • ISASP scores will be interpreted using four different performance levels
    • These levels provide additional levels of information for students, educators, and families and supports interpretation at a finer level of differentiation
    • This model is currently offered by 47 states and NAEP
    • The levels of performance will be:
      • Below
      • Approaching
      • Meeting
      • Exceeding
  • Practice tests that reflect these changes will be available very soon on the ISASP portal. 

Apply to Participate in Performance Standard Setting for ISASP

The Iowa Department of Education is seeking qualified individuals to participate in a performance standard setting that will help shape the next generation of the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress (ISASP).

The performance standard setting will cover the updated rigorous academic standards in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics, which were adopted by the Iowa State Board of Education in 2024. Iowa’s academic standards establish what students must learn to be prepared for success at each grade level and after high school.

An estimated 170 seats are available for the performance standard setting for individuals with knowledge and expertise of the updated academic standards for ELA and mathematics. Administrators, educators, higher learning professionals and other community stakeholders are encouraged to apply to participate.  

The performance standard setting will take place on June 8-12 in Des Moines. All individuals who wish to participate must commit to the full schedule. Specific location details will be released in the future. Each participant will receive a $200 honorarium and reimbursement for travel and lodging.

Applications to participate in the performance standard setting will be collected until Feb. 9 at 5 p.m.  

For more information on Iowa’s academic standards, including those on ELA and mathematics, visit the Department’s Iowa Academic Standards webpage.

Specific questions on the performance standard setting can be directed to Heather Briggs, education program consultant, at heather.briggs@iowa.gov. 

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