Media literacy education

Non-profit advocacy organization Media Literacy Now (MLN) has released the findings of the U.S. Media Literacy Policy Report 2020, the first state-by-state status report for media literacy education laws in K-12 schools. Media literacy education policy has become an urgent priority in the backdrop of research showing that U.S. students are not learning the basic skills needed to discern the quality of information they find online or to responsibly share and create content.

A nonpartisan effort, the U.S Media Literacy Report 2020 concludes that only 14 states have taken substantial legislative action for media literacy education. Ohio and Florida were revealed to have the strongest media literacy education policies for K-12 curriculum.
 
The mission of MLN is to drive policy change at the state and national level to ensure all K-12 students receive comprehensive media literacy education and skills. MLN completed this preliminary survey of all state laws at the end of 2019 to compare states’ progress and instill a sense of urgency for media literacy education. Overall, the following states were found to have some level of statutory requirement in place:

• Advanced Leader: Florida, Ohio
• Strong Leader: Texas
• Progressing Leader: Washington, New Mexico
• Emerging Leader: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Utah

It’s important to note that while sound legislation is a vital starting point, statutory language is not the final step in the journey of media literacy. Implementation in each state is key and has not been evaluated for this report. More research is needed to determine how the laws are taking effect – or not taking effect – at the state administrative and school district level.

“Teaching media literacy is critical as we seek to prepare learners to thrive in the world,” added Dr. Jon Mundorf, 8th Grade English Language Arts (ELA) Teacher and University School Assistant Professor at the P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School in Gainsville, Florida. “Our classroom-based research has been underway for almost four school years. It has evolved to move beyond teaching media literacy skills to supporting students as they develop a research identity rooted in skepticism, curiosity, and persistence.”

“There has been an overdue realization among legislators and the general population that most youth – and frankly many adults – lack the skills to decode media messages, to recognize where those messages come from, and to understand how they are shaping our world,” said Erin McNeill, president and founder of Media Literacy Now. “We are encouraged to see the progress made by the 14 leading states, but we still have a lot of work to do. Despite some very good laws, there is evidence that curriculum is still not making its way into most classrooms. Today we are calling on state lawmakers to elevate media literacy as a priority in K-12 schools by updating policy, and just as important, to use their oversight authority to ensure implementation. MLN will work with every state policymaker and activist who wants to support media literacy and better prepare our young people for the future.”
Data for this report was collected and analyzed by MLN in 2019 based on public information on legislative efforts. For the purposes of this report, MLN reviewed state laws only and included laws that use the terms “media literacy” or “digital citizenship.”