Mass. 9/11 Fund launches PBS Learning resources, asks state education board to review materials

Patrick Davis, chair of the Massachusetts 9/11 Fund education committee, announced a relaunch of the fund’s website and a partnership with GBH/PBS Learning Media to create classroom resources on Sept. 11 at a ceremony in the House Chamber. “I’m excited to announce they will relaunch the nineeleven fund website with new user friendly interface,” Davis said.

Davis said the materials are designed for educators to teach the events of Sept. 11, including Massachusetts’s role, and to help students develop critical thinking and coping skills. The new resources will be part of the PBS LearningMedia U.S. History collection and, Davis said, will be available free to educators and students across the commonwealth and the nation, reaching “more than 17,000,000 students.”

Why it matters: Davis and others at the ceremony argued that 9/11 education is at risk of fading from school curricula as students who were not yet born on Sept. 11, 2001 enter classrooms. Davis noted that “only 14 states mandate education related to 9 11,” and said Massachusetts is not one of them.

Davis asked the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education to review the materials developed by the Massachusetts 9/11 Fund and PBS LearningMedia and “to consider using the resources not only to honor the 219 victims with Massachusetts roots or ties, but also teach important lifelong lessons.” He described the lessons as including resilience, responsibility and discussion of difficult, controversial issues such as anti-Muslim and anti‑Arab bias.

Faith Dada, identified in the program as board president of the Massachusetts 9/11 Fund, was thanked for “relentless effort” in making the partnership possible. Former Boston mayor and current NHL Players Association president Marty Walsh and others in the chamber endorsed making the resources available to students statewide.

Details and background offered at the event: Davis said the fund’s education committee has visited high schools for about 15 years to talk with students who were not alive on Sept. 11 and that the fund has documented nearly 100 memorials across the state and 206 people with Massachusetts ties who died on Sept. 11. He said the website’s lessons cover the attacks’ causes, immediate aftermath and long-term societal effects and include materials to teach critical thinking and coping skills.

No formal action was taken at the ceremony. The request to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education was a public appeal; the transcript does not record a motion, vote or a formal assignment to state officials.

Davis and others emphasized that the educational resources are intended to be flexible for classroom use — historical context, firsthand accounts, readings or other methods — and to be made available at no cost through PBS LearningMedia.

The fund also announced a relaunch of massfund.org to host the materials and to provide family remembrances and classroom-ready content for educators and students.