A New Media Literacy Grant Program
In 2019 a new bill SB5594 introduced the idea of creating a state-sponsored media literacy grant program. If passed, this would be the first program of its kind anywhere in the nation.
The proposal for this new grant program was based on results of a survey conducted in 2018 by the Washington Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). This survey involved district administrators and building staff all across Washington. Results of the survey indicated that our state was in great need of new media literacy curriculum resources.
Thanks to our sponsor, Senator Marko Liias, and his continuing advocacy for media literacy education and as a result of work by Action for Media Education and supporters all across Washington, legislation creating this new grant program was included in Washington’s 2019 state budget!
- This new program was to be administered by OSPI.
- Based on recommendations of the 2016 advisory committee (established by SSB6273), the RFP for these grants stressed that grant recipients were required to develop curriculum units that could be integrated in the areas of English language arts, social studies and health.
- The legislation provided 2 years of funding for this new program.
All curriculum units developed as a result of these new grants were to be placed on Washington’s Open Educational Resources (OER). Placing the new units on OER offers tremendous advantages. All educators are able to access these materials at no cost. Further they are able to adapt curriculum to meet their own classroom needs with very limited restrictions.
Click here to see a copy of the first announcement that was issued for grants offered in 2019-2020. A second similar announcement was issued the following year for grants that were offered in 2020-2021.
To learn more about Washington’s OER and the new media literacy curriculum materials that have been developed so far, go to: https://www.oercommons.org/groups/digital-citizenship-media-literacy/1104/?__hub_id=1