State boards of education are well-positioned to support local efforts to initiate or expand media literacy and digital citizenship in K-12 classrooms as concerns grow that students are ill-prepared to engage effectively in civil public discourse, according to a paper from the National Association of State Boards of Education.
Additionally, students are spending more time online — both in and out of school — so it's essential that they are taught about digital wellness and how to think critically about images and messages, NASBE said.
While technology is constantly evolving, the media literacy skills students obtain in K-12 can carry forward throughout their lives, the paper said. States' roles could include developing media literacy standards and supporting teachers' access to training and high quality curriculum materials.
"We know from working with state boards that that is an authority that many state boards have that they can write those learning standards," said Celina Pierrottet, author of the paper and an associate director of student wellness for NASBE.
An analysis published in February by the nonprofit Media Literacy Now, which advocates for media literacy education, found that seven states now have comprehensive media literacy standards or frameworks. Another 12 states have advanced media literacy through legislation.
New Jersey led the trend when Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law the nation’s first statewide information literacy requirements for schools in January 2023. The swift action by other states is in response to the myriad social and academic influences that digital media is having on students. Educators point to both positive and concerning factors when it comes to students' engagement with digital tools like social media and artificial intelligence.
Schools should be proactive when it comes to how students are introduced to and use electronic devices and social media, according to a report released in December by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, a private nonprofit that provides independent advice for complex policy challenges. In particular, schools should take risk reduction approaches such as building comprehensive media literacy programs that include teacher training, the National Academies report said.
As states consider how best to support media literacy instruction, NASBE recommends they ask the following six questions:
- What are the benefits? Media literacy can improve students' knowledge of media, encourage positive behaviors and decrease risky behaviors. There's also a growing desire within education to address digital wellness to promote mindful engagement so students can combat harmful messages that promote body image distortion and substance abuse.
- How can students prepare to be civically engaged? To be civically engaged and well-informed citizens, students need to understand the difference between fact and opinion, be able to identify false or misleading information, and hone their awareness of perspectives and agendas in media messages.
The emergence of generative AI over the last year and a half is also stirring up concerns about deepfakes — or fake images, videos or audio that have been altered to look convincingly real — and the urgent need for students and others to be critical consumers.
- How is my state encouraging media literacy? Media literacy is an interdisciplinary topic, meaning it can be taught in English, social studies, computer science, health and other academic classes. That gives school districts more freedom to design a comprehensive media literacy curriculum, but it can also make it challenging, Pierrottet said.
The difficulty is "finding high-quality curriculum materials — or at least pointing schools in that direction of where those high-quality curriculum materials are that fit the scope and sequence of these learning standards," Pierrottet said.
- How are teachers equipped to provide instruction? Teacher professional development and access to high-quality curriculum materials aligned to state standards is lacking and creates a barrier for equitable access to media literacy education. As a result, many educators are self-taught in media literacy and often create their own instructional materials.
The National Academies and NASBE reports said currently, there are limited specifics on content that should be included in an ideal comprehensive media literacy curricula, but there are many national and state resources that can be built upon.
- Are there best practices for states to review? While there's not a comprehensive, modern national media literacy education framework, there are several resources and examples of how different states have approached this work.
NASBE highlights the process for how the Delaware Board of Education adopted new media literacy standards. There, the board created a task force and reviewed standards and guidelines from other states and national organizations, as well as from Finland.
- How can the process include students and families? NASBE suggests state education leaders can directly engage with students to co-design policies on media literacy. In some states, students sit on state boards of education as a voting or non-voting member.
"Youth are ready to be a part of the policy solution and have been increasingly vocal about proposed policies," the report said.
States can encourage engagement with parents on state-level committees or through involvement at the local level.
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