Measuring the implementation of media literacy instructional practices in schools: community stakeholder perspectives

ABSTRACT

Interest in media literacy education is increasing across the United States and around the world but little is still known about the prevalence of various instructional practices used to implement it in elementary and secondary schools. Surveys and semi-structured interviews with a statewide quota sample of education stakeholders included school leaders, educators, librarians, elected public officials, parents, and members of the community in all 24 school districts in Rhode Island. Results show that only a few instructional practices are implemented with most or nearly all students in the state. However, the implementation of various media literacy instructional practices varied considerably from one community to another but these differences were not due to the size of the community, its geographic location, or its socioeconomic status. Nearly half the variance in instructional practices can be accounted for by obstacles including technology limitations, school policies, academic priorities, perceptions of students, and educator response.

KEYWORDS:

• Media literacy education
• curriculum and instruction
• state-level implementation
• survey research

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge valuable research assistance provided by Jenny Sullivan and Tessa Mediano.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Rhode Island Social Science Institute for Research, Education and Policy (SSIREP).