Student Media Literacy Research

A nationwide sampling of high school students were assessed for their ability to evaluate digital sources on the open internet. Nearly all students floundered. Ninety percent received no credit on four of six tasks. Some of the specific findings follow: 

• Fifty-two percent of students believed a grainy video claiming to show ballot stuffing in the 2016 Democratic primaries (the video was actually shot in Russia) constituted “strong evidence” of voter fraud in the U.S. Among more than 3,000 responses, only three students tracked down the source of the video, even though a quick search turns up a variety of articles exposing the ruse. 
• Two-thirds of students couldn’t tell the difference between news stories and ads (set off by the words “Sponsored Content”) on Slate’s homepage.
• Ninety-six percent of students did not consider why ties between a climate change website and the fossil fuel industry might lessen that website’s credibility. Instead of investigating who was behind the site, students focused on superficial markers of credibility: the site’s aesthetics, its top-level domain, or how it portrayed itself on the About page.

Breakstone, J., Smith, M., Wineburg, S., Rapaport, A., Carle, J., Garland, M., & Saavedra, A. (2019). Students’ civic online reasoning: A national portrait. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford History Education Group & Gibson Consulting. https://purl.stanford.edu/gf151tb4868

Media Use by Tweens and Teens 2019

This census report is a big-picture look at how young people in the U.S. find entertainment and use devices. Beyond screen time, the report explores other critical challenges for families managing media use, from internet access for homework to unregulated, unrated online videos.

Common Sense Media. (2019). Common Sense census: Media use by tweens and teens 2019. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense Media.  

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/the-common-sense-census-media-use-by-tweens-and-teens-2019?j=7514895&sfmc_sub=168224478&l=2048712_HTML&u=137031445&mid=6409703&jb=220&utm_source=research_8-18census_2019&utm_medium=email 

 

Teachers and Research Study

A majority of teachers seek education research, but many report struggling to access it or put the information to use in the classroom, according to a survey of teachers. The findings show that educators prefer research that they can act on and that is presented in a way that applies to the context in which they work.An additional unpublished study by Emily Barton (same institute) finds that about 16% of teachers are using education research to inform their teaching practice.
Jefferson Education Exchange. (2019). Educator voices on education research. Author. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AnLli4KeRD8fkFc-HULM45b4_mnt3viR/view
Barton, E. (2019). 

Teen stress research

Anxiety and depression are on the rise among America’s youth and, whether they personally suffer from these conditions or not, seven-in-ten teens today see them as major problems among their peers. Concern about mental health cuts across gender, racial and socio-economic lines, with roughly equal shares of teens across demographic groups saying it is a significant issue in their community.
Fewer teens, though still substantial shares, voice concern over bullying, drug addiction and alcohol consumption. More than four-in-ten say these are major problems affecting people their age in the area where they live, according to a survey of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17. When it comes to the pressures teens face, academics tops the list: 61% of teens say they feel a lot of pressure to get good grades. By comparison, about three-in-ten say they feel a lot of pressure to look good (29%) and to fit in socially (28%), while roughly one-in-five feel similarly pressured to be involved in extracurricular activities and to be good at sports (21% each). And while about half of teens see drug addiction and alcohol consumption as major problems among people their age, fewer than one-in-ten say they personally feel a lot of pressure to use drugs (4%) or to drink alcohol (6%).
Horowitz, J., & Graf, N. (2019).  Most U.S. teens see anxiety and depression as a major problem among their peers. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center.
https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2019/02/20/most-u-s-teens-see-anxiety-and-depression-as-a-major-problem-among-their-peers/

School Librarian Research Compendium

New York State compiled research studies about school librarians, classified by the prior AASL standards.
Cohen, S., et al. (2019). Roles of the school librarian. Albany, NY: NE Comprehensive Center.
http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/slssap/ncc-roles-brief.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0e_07mjkUDNL-XiQJ6GtW7gTaMNamZeQlvk9_5NHa-bcrR1dik8KF_xko

Right to Supportive Learning Environments and High-Quality Resources Report

This report is a research-based position paper about the importance of a supportive learning environment with high quality resources. The report states:"All educators .. have a responsible to ensure responsiveness within instruction, books, assessments, and digital spaces for all students."

International Literacy Association. (2019). Right to Supportive Learning Environments and High-Quality Resources. Newark, NJ: Author.
https://literacyworldwide.org/docs/default-source/where-we-stand/ila-right-to-supportive-learning-environments-high-quality-resources.pdf

Race/Identify Learning Report

Ten percent of parents say they often have conversations with their children -- ages 3 to 12 -- about race and identity, according to a recent report. A parent’s race impacts how often these conversations are happening. Twenty-two percent of black parents discuss race often with their children, compared to 6 percent of white parents. About 35% of parents say they never speak with their children about social class, the report states. Experts say this trend can have serious implications, because when adults don’t talk to kids about these topics, kids learn that identity is a taboo topic. They may also start to believe the stereotypes and biases they’re presented with in everyday life.
Kotler, J., Haider, T., & Levine, M. (2019). Identity matters. New York, NY: Sesame Workshop.
https://www.sesameworkshop.org/sites/default/files/2019-10/sw_identitymatters_screen_0.pdf