Idaho Content Standards

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All Idaho public high school graduates must meet state-adopted content standards, which serve as a minimum threshold for academic consistency statewide. School districts can set more rigorous standards but cannot fall below the state requirements outlined in IDAPA 08.02.03.102, page 11. Each district is responsible for its own curriculum to meet these standards. Idaho reviews and revises content standards every six years.

Proposed Revisions to the K-12 Social Studies Standards

The proposed revisions to the K-12 Social Studies standards were developed by a committee of Idaho educators and will be presented to the State Board of Education and the Idaho Legislature in 2026.

Proposed K-12 Social Studies Standards

Anyone may submit written comments regarding this proposed rulemaking. All written comments must be directed to rules@edu.idaho.gov and must be delivered on or before October 22, 2025.

Essential Standards

The Why: In response to requests from schools and districts for guidance on essential standards, committees of educators from around Idaho collaborated in the summer of 2024 to categorize the standards of the four core content areas. This guidance helps LEAs prioritize the most critical standards, recognizing that not all standards are of equal importance. This document serves as a resource—not a mandate—to assist local efforts. We encourage LEAs to engage in this process on their own, using these documents as a resource to support their efforts. Importantly, this work did not remove or revise any of the adopted Idaho Content Standards and is intended to help LEAs refocus time and effort.

Essential Standards Definition: Teachers will explicitly teach the standard, assess students’ skills or knowledge in the standard more than once, and intervene to provide support for those students not meeting proficiency.

To access resources, click the appropriate + sign below.

K-5 Essential Standards

Kindergarten

Grade 1

Grade 2

Grade 3

Grade 4

Grade 5

Middle School Essential Standards

Secondary English Language Arts

Grade 6

Grade 7

Grade 8

Mathematics

Science

High School Essential Standards

Secondary English Language Arts

Mathematics

High School Foundational Grades 9-10

High School Advanced Grades 11-12

Science

Life Science

Earth and Space Science

Chemistry

Physics

Essential Standards Toolkit

Note: These essential standards were selected by Idaho teachers, for Idaho teachers. Thank you to all the Idaho educators who contributed to this work.