An act relative to media literacy in public schools
 
 
The purpose of this act is to require the department of education to develop a plan to implement instruction in media literacy based on recommendations and strategies provided by an advisory committee.
 
Section 1: Curricular content for all subjects in grades K-12 in public schools must integrate media literacy skills.
 
Section 2: For purposes of this act, “media literacy” shall be considered a broad term that encompasses consumption and production of media and digital products and communication technology of all kinds, and is defined as the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create and take action with all forms of communication, and encompasses the foundational skills of digital citizenship and internet safety including the norms of appropriate, responsible, ethical, and healthy behavior, and cyberbullying prevention.
 
Section 3: The board of education shall appoint a media literacy advisory committee to conduct a study on teaching media literacy in schools. The advisory committee shall include: Experts in media literacy including but not limited to academic experts and non-profit organizations; and other stakeholders, including teachers, librarians, parent organizations, administrators and students, and should include regional representation including rural areas. 
 
Section 4: The committee shall make a report of its findings, including any recommendations for legislative or regulatory action as it may deem necessary and appropriate, best practices for instruction that provides guidance about thoughtful, safe, and strategic uses of online and other media resources and education on how to apply critical thinking skills when consuming and producing media in any form. These recommendations and best practices may include, but are not limited to:
 
(a) revisions to state education standards and the state instructional technology plan;
(b) revisions to policies and procedures on media literacy, including digital citizenship and internet safety;
(c) school district processes necessary to develop customized school district policies and procedures on electronic resources and internet safety that can be used within a school district technology plan;
(d) best practices, resources, and models for instruction in media
literacy;
(e) best practices, resources, and models for instruction of digital citizenship, including media literacy, that are compliant with the federal universal service e-rate program administered by the schools and libraries division of the universal service administrative company and federal mandates established in the federal children’s internet protection act; and
(f) strategies that will support school districts in local implementation of the best practices and recommendations developed by the committee, including strategies for delivering professional development to educators and administrators.
 
Section 5: The report required by section three of this act shall be delivered to the governor, the president of the senate and the speaker of the assembly no later than one year after the effective date of this act.
 
Section 6: The department of education shall develop a plan to implement instruction in media literacy in grades kindergarten to twelve in public schools, based upon the recommendations provided by the advisory committee.
 
Section 7: The department shall report to the legislature annually, beginning on _____________, on the department’s plan, including the timeline for implementing instruction in media literacy in grades kindergarten through twelve.
 
Section 8: School district annual review
(1) Beginning in the 20XX-XX school year, a school district shall annually review its policy and procedures on electronic resources and internet safety. In reviewing and amending the policy and procedures, a school district must:
(a) Involve a representation of students, parents or guardians, teachers, teacher-librarians, other school employees, administrators, and community representatives with experience or expertise in digital citizenship, media literacy, and internet safety issues;
(b) Consider customizing the model policy and procedures on electronic resources and internet safety developed by the department;
(c) Consider existing school district resources; and
(d) Consider best practices, resources, and models for instruction in digital citizenship, internet safety, and media literacy, including methods to involve parents.
 
Section 9: Department policy review
(1) By ___________date, the department shall review and revise its model policy and procedures on electronic resources and internet safety to better support digital citizenship, media literacy, and internet safety in schools. The model policy and procedures must contain provisions requiring that media literacy resources consist of a balanced range of sources and perspectives.
(2) By _______________date, the department shall develop a checklist of items for school districts to consider when updating their policy and procedures under subsection (2) of this section.
 
 
Section 10: Survey
  (1) By ____________, the department shall survey teacher-librarians, principals, and technology directors to understand how they are currently integrating digital citizenship and media literacy education in their curriculum. The purpose of the survey is to determine ways in which teacher-librarians, principals, and technology directors can lead, teach, and support digital citizenship and media literacy across all grades and content areas and to determine baseline integration.
 
Section 11: Web-based resources
(1) The department shall create a web-based location with links to recommended successful practices and resources to support digital citizenship, media literacy, and internet safety for use in the 20XX-XX school year. The web-based resources must incorporate the information gathered by the study in section 3 of this act.
(2) Thereafter, the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall continue to identify and develop additional educational resources to support digital citizenship, media literacy, and internet safety in schools for k-12 in all subject areas for the web-based location.
(3) Media literacy resources must consist of a balanced range of sources and perspectives.
 
Section 12: The department of education shall require that at least 1 of the mandatory teacher trainings be a media literacy training with a focus on embedding critical thinking into the curriculum aligned to existing learning standards; and require that impact assessment be conducted through a long-term evaluation of progress.
 
Section 13: The department of education shall: Provide support for professional development for teachers and teacher-librarians focused on integrating media literacy in all core subjects and in health classes; and create guidelines for a comprehensive professional development program with learning outcomes aligned with standards and scope and sequence linked to educator demonstration of understanding of those outcomes.