Media Literacy Now's January report shows 11 states passed new or expanded media literacy laws since 2024. Over half of US states now have some legislation. Most of it's paired with phone bans and social media restrictions, which makes sense.
Media Literacy Now's January report shows 11 states passed new or expanded media literacy laws since 2024. Over half of US states now have some legislation. Most of it's paired with phone bans and social media restrictions, which makes sense. What doesn't make sense: there's almost no funding, curriculum guidance, or professional development attached to these mandates. States are saying "teach media literacy" without defining what that means or giving teachers resources to do it. California just became the 4th state to mandate K-12 media literacy for all students. Idaho and Florida both have AI literacy standards going into effect July 2026. That's a few months away. I'm not against teaching this stuff. Kids need to understand how algorithms work, how to evaluate sources, how media systems shape what they see. But dropping another mandate on teachers without support is the same pattern we've seen with every other "urgent" educational priority. The mandate is the easy part. The curriculum, training, and time to implement it are apparently someone else's problem. Anyone in a state that's passed one of these laws - what's actually happening on the ground? Getting curriculum? Training? Or just another line item you're expected to figure out yourself? Asking because we've been building curriculum for exactly this gap - specifically around teaching students to evaluate AI outputs and media claims. Curious what teachers are actually being handed right now, if anything. submitted by /u/Wild-Annual-4408 [link] [comments]