Today's Law As Amended


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AB-155 Pupil instruction: model curriculum: media literacy.(2017-2018)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.
 (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1) Media and technology have become pervasive in all areas of our lives.
(2) While media and technology have great promise for learning, young people need support and education to learn how to make sound judgments when navigating the digital world.
(3) Pupils must learn how to safely, ethically, responsibly, and effectively use a variety of media.
(4) Schools can play a critical role by educating, empowering, and engaging pupils with best practices around media use.
(5) Educators are now faced with new, and at times overwhelming, challenges, such as those related to privacy, digital footprints, cyberbullying, and sexting.
(6) Pupils are sometimes confronted with Internet sources pretending to be something they are not. With so much information shared on the Internet, it can be difficult for pupils to tell the difference between real news and fake news.
(7) Ordinary people once relied on publishers, editors, and subject matter experts to vet the information they consumed, but information shared on the Internet is disseminated rapidly and often without editorial oversight, making it easier for fake news to reach a large audience.
(8) A recent study has shown that the inability to distinguish between real news and fake news is particularly pronounced among young people.
(9) Young people tend to accept information as presented, even without supporting evidence or citations, and rarely ask where it came from or try to verify it.
(10) Young people also struggle to tell the difference between native advertising, an increasingly common type of advertising that tries to sell or promote a product while posing as a news article, and real news stories.
(11) The inability of young people to distinguish between real news and fake news makes them less informed about important civic issues and poses a direct threat to our democracy.
(b) Therefore, it is the intent of this act to provide resources to educators for the purpose of media literacy among California pupils.

SEC. 2.

 Section 51226.8 is added to the Education Code, to read:

51226.8.
 (a) The Instructional Quality Commission shall develop, and the state board shall adopt, reject, or modify, a model curriculum for pupils in kindergarten and in grades 1 to 12, inclusive, in media literacy, for voluntary use by educators. The curriculum shall incorporate evidence-based and applied instructional practices for developing media literacy skills, and shall identify the ways in which the model curriculum aligns with, and is supportive of, the Common Core state standards.
(b) The model curriculum shall address safe and strategic uses of online and other media resources, and shall provide instruction on how to apply critical thinking skills when consuming or producing media in any form. The model curriculum shall address, but not necessarily be limited to, the instruction of pupils in how to accomplish all of the following:
(1) Safely and responsibly use media.
(2) Analyze media content in a critical way.
(3) Evaluate the quality and credibility of media content.
(4) Integrate or apply media literacy skills in other content areas.
(5) Produce media in a variety of forms.
(c) Content relating to the ability of pupils to analyze and evaluate media shall address the ability of pupils to think critically about information found on Internet Web sites. Specifically, the model curriculum shall instruct pupils on how to accomplish all of the following:
(1) Judge the credibility and quality of information found on Internet Web sites, including social media Web sites.
(2) Identify credible sources online.
(3) Identify the source of charts or pictures shared on social media platforms.
(4) Determine whether an article is a news story or a sponsored post.
(5) Distinguish between news stories and opinion columns.
(6) Verify claims made in articles on online Web sites or social media platforms.
(7) Evaluate evidence in articles on online sites or in social media platforms to determine the trustworthiness of a source.
(d) The model curriculum in media literacy shall provide model lessons and activities for each grade level, and identify supporting instructional materials for use in its implementation.
(e) In developing the model curriculum in media literacy, the Instructional Quality Commission shall convene an advisory group composed of experts in analyzing content leading to media literacy education. A majority of this group shall be current public school elementary or secondary classroom teachers who have a professional teaching credential that is valid under state law and who have experience or expertise in media literacy education.
(f) The Instructional Quality Commission shall hold a minimum of two public hearings in order for the public to provide input on the model curriculum. The public hearings and meetings required by this subdivision shall be held pursuant to the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act (Article 9 (commencing with Section 11120) of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code).
(g) On or before December 31, 2020, the Instructional Quality Commission shall submit to the state board the media literacy curriculum.
(h) On or before March 31, 2021, the state board shall adopt, reject, or modify the model curriculum in media literacy submitted by the Instructional Quality Commission, at a public meeting held after the submission of the media literacy curriculum pursuant to subdivision (g).
(i) If the state board modifies the model curriculum in media literacy submitted by the Instructional Quality Commission, the state board shall explain, in writing, the reasons for the modifications to the Governor and the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature.
(j) If the state board modifies the model curriculum, the state board shall, in a meeting conducted pursuant to the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act (Article 9 (commencing with Section 11120) of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code), provide written reasons for its revisions. The state board shall not adopt the model curriculum at the same meeting at which it provides its written reasons, but, instead, shall adopt these revisions at a subsequent meeting conducted no later than July 31, 2021.
(k) If the state board rejects the model curriculum, the state board shall transmit, to the Superintendent, the Governor, and the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature, a specific written explanation of the reasons for the rejection of the model curriculum presented by the Superintendent.
(l) Following the adoption by the state board of the model curriculum in media literacy, the Superintendent shall post the curriculum on its Internet Web site for use on a voluntary basis by educators.
(m) Subject to the enactment of an appropriation for this purpose in the Budget Act or another statute, the Superintendent shall create an online professional development module that instructs educators on the use of the model curriculum in media literacy, and shall make this module available at no cost on its Internet Web site for voluntary use by educators.
(n) Beginning in the school year following the adoption by the state board of the model curriculum in media literacy, local educational agencies and charter schools are encouraged to use the model curriculum to provide instruction in media literacy.
(o) For purposes of this section, “media literacy” means the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, develop, produce, and interpret media, and involves a diverse set of foundational skills related to current technology and social media use and includes the norms of appropriate, responsible, and healthy behavior.