Posting on behalf of PDE:
Dear Colleague,
The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) is writing to inform you about a voluntary new resource available to schools, libraries, and communities that can help prepare the next generation of news and information consumers in Pennsylvania.
The Information and Media Literacy Toolkit, which is available to the public on PDE’s website, offers resources about how to recognize biases, distinguish between credible information and misinformation, and create and share content responsibly. Through a collection of evidence-based resources, the toolkit encourages critical thinking, active participation in society, and contextual understanding of past and current events.
In his second budget address, Governor Josh Shapiro charged PDE and the Office of Commonwealth Libraries with developing resources to help schools incorporate information literacy into all aspects of learning. Information literacy is already a vital component of the high-quality academic standards taught across the Commonwealth, and these new resources will not replace those standards; rather, they will provide tools that schools can use to enhance existing lessons.
Resources in the toolkit are primarily geared toward educators, but there are also tools to help families and their children navigate the media landscape.
As we as educators and community leaders know, the media landscape of the 21st Century offers a richness of information available to anyone with an Internet connection and the curiosity to click. But it is also complicated, messy and difficult to interpret – even for those of us who have been consuming news and information online for decades. This toolkit will empower learners with the skills they’ll need to navigate this ever-evolving world of information at our fingertips and help Pennsylvania’s educators incorporate age-appropriate media literacy into their lesson plans and their conversations with students.
As always, thank you for all that you do on behalf of Pennsylvania’s schools, educators, learners, and communities.
Khalid N. Mumin, Ed.D | Secretary
Department of Education
607 South Drive | Harrisburg, PA 17120