Just over a third of Americans now say people are generally trustworthy, a downward shift over the past two decades, . 鈥婱eanwhile, show t鈥嬧赌嬧�媟ust in institutions like schools, courts and the presidency is at record lows鈥�.

鈥嬧赌婽his trend also has seeped into an institution we know well:鈥嬧赌� the media鈥�.鈥嬧赌嬧�� SmartNews, an app that curates news from credible outlets, that 65% of Gen Z readers regularly question the accuracy of news. That鈥檚 more than any other age group, pointing to growing generational skepticism.聽

And a from the News Literacy Project found that four out of five teens believe journalists fail to produce more credible information than other content creators. Nearly seven in 10 believe journalists add bias intentionally. And 45% believe they do more harm than good to democracy. 

The results are both a warning and a call to action: Today鈥檚 young people are deeply skeptical, but they also crave trustworthy information.

 Some skepticism is good; it helps readers think critically and avoid misinformation. But unchecked, it can curdle into cynicism, isolating them from shared facts and civic dialogue. When everything is met with disbelief, they risk tuning out completely.

That is where news literacy comes in. It is not just a set of skills; it is the foundation for restoring trust in democracy. To build a future filled with healthy skepticism, instead of divisive cynicism 鈥媡oward the media鈥�, young people need to learn how to navigate today鈥檚 complicated online spaces.

Why is this so urgent? Because misinformation thrives where trust breaks down. Conspiracy theories and viral falsehoods are just a swipe away. According to a by the News Literacy Project, many teens believe the conspiracy theories they encounter online. What is worse is that SmartNews that only 13% of Gen Z report fact-checking what they read, making them the least likely generation to verify information.

It’s understandable how we got here. Clickbait and daily headlines can make the world seem like a scary place. Rumors and false information fill social feeds. 鈥婦eciphering 鈥嬧赌媤hat鈥檚 real and 鈥媐ake鈥� is a challenge鈥�, and has only made it harder. This doesn鈥檛 mean Gen Z doesn鈥檛 care about the truth. Quite the opposite 鈥� they care deeply but feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of noise. As digital natives, they鈥檙e expected to instinctively know what鈥檚 credible and what鈥檚 not. But instincts aren鈥檛 enough, and news literacy can bring them closer to a shared understanding.

The good news? Schools across the country are stepping up. In New York鈥檚, librarian Cynthia Sandler led students in creating Instagram reels exploring how to separate news from paid ads, spot AI-generated images and fact-check claims using credible sources.

In , a teacher at Woodland Hills Academy offers a current events elective helping students build media literacy skills, while are integrating news literacy across subjects, from examining hip-hop music history to evaluating scientific sources.

The impact is measurable: Teens who having media literacy instruction are more likely to trust news media compared to their peers who didn’t receive these lessons.

These examples point to a broader movement. At least 18 states have now requiring or promoting media literacy education, with Connecticut, Illinois and New Jersey specifically news literacy instruction.

So how can more schools join this effort? It starts with five simple practices educators can apply today to help students identify trustworthy sources: 

• Do a quick search: Conducting a simple search for information about a news source will show what others have said about its reporting practices and dedication to accuracy.

• Look for standards: While鈥嬧赌� not perfect, reputable news organizations aspire to ethical standards, including fairness, accuracy and independence.

• Check for transparency: Quality news sources should be transparent about their reporting practices, ownership and funding.

• Examine how errors are handled: Credible news sources care about being accurate, so they correct their mistakes and acknowledge them to their audience.

• Assess news coverage: Read multiple articles to evaluate whether they鈥檙e applying standards that lend credibility to their coverage.

In today鈥檚 information ecosystem, skepticism is essential 鈥� but cynicism is corrosive. When young people are equipped with both the tools and the trusted platforms to think critically, they鈥檙e better able to shape their world with facts, not fear.

And that鈥檚 a future worth building.

As much as possible, the high school junior has tried to set up guardrails on rapid-fire social feeds to limit scrolling and the allure of algorithms’ suggestions. 鈥淔or my own self control,鈥� she said.

Murphy may be an outlier among her peers, but increasingly many teens share her feelings of information overload and awareness that they can鈥檛 trust everything they read on social media. 鈥淭here鈥檚 just so much bad information out there that it sometimes gets jumbled up,鈥� Murphy said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just hard to discern what someone鈥檚 intent is with something.鈥� 

As members of Gen Z 鈥� born between 1997 and 2012 鈥� high school students like Murphy have grown up with smartphones and social media. It鈥檚 a digital world where algorithms fuel endless scrolling and conspiracy theories feel like the norm. 

That鈥檚 particularly true for Murphy and her classmates at Owasso High School in Owasso, Oklahoma, a quickly growing Tulsa suburb of 39,000. It鈥檚 a place that last year felt the intense glare of going viral and the chaotic flow of news, half-truths and hate following the death of Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old nonbinary student who an altercation in the girls鈥� bathroom. 

As a news literacy expert working to support educators, I recently spoke with 12 students at Owasso High School about their news habits and what it鈥檚 like trying to find credible information in an online environment that constantly tests their ability to know what鈥檚 true. 

Here are four takeaways from our conversations. 

1. Teens are drawn to conspiracy theories 鈥� and may not realize they can lead down dangerous rabbit holes. 

A by the News Literacy Project found that eight in 10 teens on social media say they encounter conspiracy theories, with 81% of those teens reporting that they are inclined to believe at least one of them. 

Senior Elijah Wagner, 18, told me he often turns to X, formerly Twitter, and sorts through 鈥渢he chaos鈥� of content on the platform to keep up with news. 

鈥淭here’s a lot of conspiracy theories on Twitter,鈥� Wagner said, adding that much of what he sees are 鈥減eople who just want to make a big deal about something.鈥� 

For some young people, part of the appeal is that these narratives feel fun and entertaining. Students I spoke with rattled off viral rumors they鈥檝e seen about celebrities like Beyonc茅. But as with the teens in our national survey, Owasso students also reported seeing conspiracies that went well beyond celebrity gossip, including disproven theories about the Earth being flat and falsehoods about 9/11. 

Though exposure is not the same as belief, seeing a claim repeated enough 鈥� even one that starts out as a joke 鈥� true. 鈥淚t gets to the point where it鈥檚 kind of hard not to believe some of them,鈥� said Kelsey Perry, 18. 

2. Peers can play an important role in fact-checking. 

In online spaces, fact-checking is something many students try to do. Among teens who engage with news-related social media posts, nearly eight in 10 report that they at least sometimes fact-check these posts before sharing or liking them, according to our study. Those who were taught media literacy were more likely to say they frequently check for accuracy before posting online.  

Research that we鈥檙e more likely to believe fact-checks from people we know. 

On the winter day of my visit, the Los Angeles wildfires dominated online conversation. News of the fires had reached students not only through the mighty curation of their TikTok For You pages, but also through family and friends. 

One student admitted she hadn鈥檛 kept up with the fires because they seem far removed from their Oklahoma community. She added that the fires, after all, were happening all the way 鈥渋n Atlanta.鈥� 

鈥淣o, it鈥檚 in L.A.,鈥� an 18-year-old classmate said, chiming in with a fact-check.  

The group laughed, agreed and moved on to describe videos they鈥檇 seen of the destruction. 

During their lunch hour in the library, these students continued cycling through a process of shared meaning-making: offering information, testing it against each other鈥檚 knowledge and interpreting it as a group. 

When conspiracy theories came up, a junior mentioned seeing posts suggesting the Holocaust didn鈥檛 happen. 鈥淏ut I鈥檓 pretty sure that did happen,鈥� she added, 鈥渂ecause isn鈥檛 there, like, museums for it and stuff?鈥� 

Another student confirmed, saying they just learned about the Holocaust in history class the day before. A win for real-time social correction 鈥� and a reminder of why it鈥檚 crucial for students to feel comfortable stepping into the role of fact-checker to share what they know with peers.  

3. Yes, teens turn to influencers, but standards-based news still has a place.聽

We know many young people see social media influencers as trusted sources, even over news outlets. In fact, our survey found that eight in 10 teens say that the information news organizations produce is either more biased than or about the same as other content creators online. 

In each of my conversations, it didn鈥檛 take long for talk of social media to broach the story that last year turned this high school into a national fixture of grief and viral debate. Reflecting on the death of their classmate and the crush of national attention that ensued, students recalled when misinformation became personal and painful.  

Hateful comments flooded school-associated social media accounts. Classmates stayed home following against the school. Students described seeing a protest unfold outside classroom windows while following along on a TikTok livestream. One student remembered eating lunch with a teacher rather than in the cafeteria because a friend felt scared.  

They also watched celebrities and influencers weigh in. 

For Murphy, who tries to limit her social media use, last year marked a turning point. She said an influencer she followed for political commentary on current events posted about the Owasso student鈥檚 death before many details had been confirmed. 鈥淪eeing them make that post really made me see that maybe they weren’t as credible as I originally thought they were,鈥� Murphy said. 

Now Murphy said she tries to check multiple credible sources for news to compare what she鈥檚 hearing. 

Other students told me something similar: Though many people their age follow influencers, news outlets still have a place, especially for stories that meet a certain threshold of importance. (鈥淚f it鈥檚 big enough,鈥� or 鈥渋f I鈥檓 scared about the news,鈥� one 16-year-old said.) 

4.    They want news literacy instruction. 

The News Literacy Project鈥檚 study shows that an overwhelming majority of teens (94%) want media literacy instruction, but most aren鈥檛 getting it. 

I heard much the same at Owasso High School. Some students said they鈥檇 heard terms like 鈥渓ateral reading鈥� in school: when you leave a source of information and do a quick search to learn more about the claim or source. But they also told me they wished media literacy could be woven throughout their classes, from statistics to science. 

Library media specialist Melinda Gallagher has been teaching news literacy lessons for about eight years in her role at Owasso. 鈥淚 feel like this is one way we can help our students 鈥� and help ourselves, to be frank 鈥� with figuring out what is real and what is not,鈥� Gallagher said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very important for our future as a country.鈥� 

Students didn鈥檛 ask for this online quagmire or create it. But it鈥檚 a world they鈥檙e expected to navigate. 鈥淪ocial media is so prevalent 鈥� it鈥檚 not going away,鈥� said Makenzy Holm, 17. 鈥淲e might as well learn to use it to our best ability.鈥�

Organizations like are working to equip Gen Z with the skills to differentiate between what鈥檚 real and what鈥檚 fake online. 

YVote was founded in New York City in 2017 out of concern for low youth voter turnout in the 2016 presidential election, when only of 18- to 29-year-olds nationwide cast a ballot. The organization is youth-centered and youth-led, with a core team of six that includes two high schoolers. The main facilitator is Mukilan Muthukumar, a senior at Hunter College High School. Since its launch, the organization has worked with over 1,500 students across 70 schools.

Kenisha Mahajan, a YVote alumna and lead facilitator, said that since the organization鈥檚 founding, it has expanded to civically engage young constituents beyond just voting. 鈥淎 lot of people on our team banded together and realized that young people need a lot more empowerment and uplifting and also this connection to resources if we’re actually going to get them out to the polls,鈥� Mahajan said.

Mahajan said the organization planned several sessions and activities for its annual, week-long Democracy Camp this month centered on media literacy, including icebreakers on current events, guided discussions on accessing information and trivia-style games on media bias.

鈥淔or young people that might be concerned about [artificial intelligence], we want to give them a platform to air out their concerns when it comes to what AI and media is looking like and talk about their experiences with it,鈥� she said.

Christine Li and Eloise Gordon are peer leaders for the organization. Li is a junior at Millennium Brooklyn High School and Gordon is a senior at West End Academy Secondary School in Manhattan. The high schoolers worked together this spring on a Civil Action Project with the organization about media literacy and misinformation, which they showcased to about 60 students from several schools, adult leaders from voting and human rights organizations and community members during a virtual presentation. They also worked with journalist , co-founder of RANTT Media, to record an of The Roundtable: A Next Generation Politics Podcast titled Media Literacy in a Maelstrom.

鈥淚 think the consensus within our group was that media literacy was very important for this time of AI, false information and the 2024 election,鈥� Li said. 鈥淎 lot of the young leaders in our fellowship were really alarmed by how much false information they were interacting with.鈥�

鈥淲hen you think about the advent of mis- and disinformation since [then-candidate Donald Trump’s] 2016 tweets 鈥� the obvious example I point to is the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, which were rooted in mis- and disinformation,鈥� Gordon said.

An analysis from The Brennan Center that Trump’s election-denial scheme that began in 2020, when he was president, is still impacting the voting process four years later. The organization cited the increase in threats and harassment of and restrictive across the country that disproportionately impact voters of color as byproducts of those efforts to overturn the results of the election.

As part of their project, Li, Gordon and other high schoolers brainstormed ways to combat falling for fake information online. One strategy the group implemented is the SIFT method, created by digital literacy expert and research scientist . SIFT stands for: Stop, Investigate the source, Find better coverage and Trace claims. Li said it鈥檚 a simple yet effective way to find biases and connect to original sources.

Another strategy Gordon said they promoted for detecting AI images is focusing on people’s hands, as artificial intelligence doesn鈥檛 have fingers and other small details like teeth figured out. In March, a fake of Trump being arrested circulated online. One of the biggest signs that it was bogus was the hands of Trump and the police officers in the image.

The group also discussed social media echo chambers and how easy it is to fall into a cycle of interacting only with information you agree with.

鈥淲e are really limited in our ideas, especially by algorithms and the conversations we have 鈥� I think if we really want to use social media for good, it’s really important that we seek out these new opinions and ideas,鈥� Li said.

For Gordon, Facebook is the most concerning social media app when it comes to fake news being shared widely, 鈥渟pecifically on the news feed section of the Facebook app. We discussed as a group that the idea of a customized news feed inherently sounds flawed because news obviously isn’t customizable.鈥�

Facebook has been several times over its content, and in 2021, founder Mark Zuckerberg said posts with misinformation about COVID had been removed from the site.

As for Li, she said she believes Trump鈥檚 Truth Social app is the most dangerous for mis- and disinformation.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a breeding ground for bias and misinformation because it’s not really fully developed. I think other apps do a much better job with regulating content and having fact checkers,鈥� she said.

Aside from the Civic Action Projects, YVote has initiatives like training youth on canvassing for voter registration and participatory budgeting. The organization won first place and $20,000 in a 2021 citywide budgeting campaign to create community gardens at underfunded public schools.

During the organization鈥檚 summer camp, NYC teens are guided to envision what democracy looks like to them and are taught skills necessary to create it. They learn about the history of American democracy, craft proposals on specific issues they鈥檇 like to tackle and are encouraged to continue what they鈥檝e learned by creating a research project during the school year. Though students don鈥檛 receive extra credit at school, those who participate will qualify for Certificates of Activist Excellence and/or Civic Leadership.

The organization also offers a year-long program called the Change Makers Institute, where facilitators aged 17 to 24 lead high school students in monthly virtual sessions to learn about voting and advocacy. They train students on reading news headlines and how to point out ones that may be fake, disreputable or skewed to the left or right politically.

In addition, the organization encourages young people to explore topics they鈥檙e passionate about, such as mass incarceration and school segregation and teaches them how voting can impact these issues.

In April, YVote launched Youth Civic Hub, a one-stop shop for New York City youth to learn where and how to vote, find out who is running for office in their area and get information on civic organizations that they may want to get involved in. The hub is run by a team of seven, six of them college students. 

The offers a civics glossary to break down common terms and an interactive map that allows voters to enter their neighborhood and see which politicians represent their area and what authority they have. The hub also features a directory of nearby organizations, an election portal that can help young people register to vote and an opportunities board for those who want to get involved beyond voting.

Pushing back against the surge of misinformation online, California will now require all K-12 students to learn media literacy skills 鈥� such as recognizing fake news and thinking critically about what they encounter on the internet. 

Gov. Gavin Newsom last month signed , which requires the state to add media literacy to curriculum frameworks for English language arts, science, math and history-social studies, rolling out gradually beginning next year. Instead of a stand-alone class, the topic will be woven into existing classes and lessons throughout the school year.

鈥淚鈥檝e seen the impact that misinformation has had in the real world 鈥� how it affects the way people vote, whether they accept the outcomes of elections, try to overthrow our democracy,鈥� said the bill鈥檚 sponsor, Assemblymember Marc Berman, a Democrat from Menlo Park. 鈥淭his is about making sure our young people have the skills they need to navigate this landscape.鈥�

The new law comes amid rising public distrust in the media, especially among young people. A 2022 Pew Research Center survey found that adults under age 30 are  on social media as they are from national news outlets. Overall, only 7% of adults have , according to a Gallup poll conducted last year.

Media literacy can help change that, advocates believe, by teaching students how to recognize reliable news sources and the crucial role that media plays in a democracy. 

鈥淭he increase in Holocaust denial, climate change denial, conspiracy theories getting a foothold, and now AI 鈥� all this shows how important media literacy is for our democracy right now,鈥� said Jennifer Ormsby, library services manager for the Los Angeles County Office of Education. 鈥淭he 2016 election was a real eye-opener for everyone on the potential harms and dangers of fake news.鈥�

AB 873 passed nearly unanimously in the Legislature, underscoring the nonpartisan nature of the topic. Nationwide, Texas, New Jersey and Delaware have also passed strong media literacy laws, and more than a dozen other states are moving in that direction, , a nonprofit research organization that advocates for media literacy in K-12 schools.

Still, California鈥檚 law falls short of Media Literacy Now鈥檚 recommendations. California鈥檚 approach doesn鈥檛 include funding to train teachers, an advisory committee, input from librarians, surveys or a way to monitor the law鈥檚 effectiveness.

Keeping the bill simple, though, was a way to help ensure its passage, Berman said. Those features can be implemented later, and he felt it was urgent to pass the law quickly so students can start receiving media literacy education as soon as possible. The law goes into effect Jan. 1, 2024, as the state begins updating its curriculum frameworks, although teachers are encouraged to teach media literacy now.

Berman鈥檚 law builds on a  to bring media literacy to K-12 classrooms. In 2018, Senate Bill 830 required the California Department of Education to provide media literacy resources 鈥� lesson plans, project ideas, background 鈥� to the state鈥檚 K-12 teachers. But it didn鈥檛 make media literacy mandatory.

The new law also overlaps somewhat with . The state hopes to expand computer science, which can include aspects of media literacy, to all students, possibly even requiring it to graduate from high school. Newsom recently signed , which creates a commission to look at ways to recruit more computer science teachers to California classrooms. Berman is also sponsoring , which would require high schools to offer computer science classes. That bill is currently stalled in the Senate.

Understanding media, and creating it

Teachers don鈥檛 need a state law to show students how to be smart media consumers, and some have been doing it for years. Merek Chang, a high school science teacher at Hacienda La Puente Unified in the City of Industry east of Los Angeles, said the pandemic was a wake-up call for him.

During remote learning, he gave students two articles on the origins of the coronavirus. One was an opinion piece from the New York Post, a tabloid, and the other was from a scientific journal. He asked students which they thought was accurate. More than 90% chose the Post piece.

鈥淚t made me realize that we need to focus on the skills to understand content, as much as we focus on the content itself,鈥� Chang said.

He now incorporates media literacy in all aspects of his lesson plans. He relies on the , which offers free media literacy resources for teachers, and took part in a KQED media literacy program for teachers. 

In addition to teaching students how to evaluate online information, he shows them how to create their own media. Homework assignments include making TikTok-style videos on protein synthesis for mRNA vaccines, for example. Students then present their projects at home or at lunchtime events for families and the community.

鈥淭he biggest impact, I鈥檝e noticed, is that students feel like their voice matters,鈥� Chang said. 鈥淭he work isn鈥檛 just for a grade. They feel like they鈥檙e making a difference.鈥�

Ormsby, the Los Angeles County librarian, has also been promoting media literacy for years. Librarians generally have been on the forefront of media literacy education, and California鈥檚 new law refers to the  for media literacy guidelines. 

Ormsby teaches concepts like 鈥渓ateral reading鈥� (comparing an online article with other sources to check for accuracy) and reverse imaging (searching online to trace a photo to its original source or checking if it鈥檚 been altered). She also provides lesson plans, resources and book recommendations such as 鈥淭rue or False: A CIA analyst鈥檚 guide to spotting fake news鈥� and, for elementary students, 鈥淜iller Underwear Invasion! How to spot fake news, disinformation & conspiracy theories.鈥�

She鈥檚 happy that the law passed, but would like to see librarians included in the rollout and the curriculum implemented immediately, not waiting until the frameworks are updated.

The gradual implementation of the law was deliberate, since schools are already grappling with so many other state mandates, said Alvin Lee, executive director of Generation Up, a student-led advocacy group that was among the bill鈥檚 sponsors. He鈥檚 hoping that local school boards decide to prioritize the issue on their own by funding training for teachers and moving immediately to get media literacy into classrooms.

鈥淒isinformation contributes to polarization, which we鈥檙e seeing happen all over the world,鈥� said Lee, a junior at Stanford who said it鈥檚 a top issue among his classmates. 鈥淢edia literacy can address that.鈥�

In San Francisco Unified, Ricardo Elizalde is a teacher on special assignment who trains elementary teachers in media literacy. His staff gave out 50 copies of 鈥淜iller Underwear!鈥� for teachers to build activities around, and encourages students to make their own media, as well.

Elementary school is the perfect time to introduce the topic, he said.

鈥淲e get all these media thrown at us from a young age, we have to learn to defend ourselves,鈥� Elizalde said. 鈥淢edia literacy is a basic part of being literate. If we鈥檙e just teaching kids how to read, and not think critically about what they鈥檙e reading, we鈥檙e doing them a disservice.鈥� 

As few safeguards are in place to stop false or misleading information from spreading online, media literacy has quickly become a critical life skill. It鈥檚 time for lawmakers at both the state and federal levels to pass legislation requiring public schools to institute media literacy programs in all K-12 classrooms.鈥�

Countless studies have shown how susceptible young people are to false and misleading information, with many students struggling to determine what is actual news and what is exaggerated, skewed or downright incorrect. For example, research published in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology found that children often start trusting unproven conspiratorial ideas .鈥�

Another 鈥痠nvolving nearly 3,500 U.S. students discovered that more than 80% of middle schoolers believed that an advertisement labeled as “sponsored content” was actually a news story. Stanford鈥檚 research also discovered that fewer than 20% of high schoolers seriously questioned false claims posted on social media. 

At the college level,鈥�痮f students failed to acknowledge that an anti-gun organization could have influenced the results of a poll supporting stricter gun control measure that it posted on Twitter.

Not only are young people more susceptible to this type of information online, but the algorithms employed by tech companies appear fine-tuned to lead them directly to misleading content. , for example, discovered that YouTube鈥檚 recommendation algorithm is skewed to promote videos that are more extreme and far-fetched than those the viewer started with.鈥�

Most algorithms have no capacity for discerning what they are suggesting; their primary function is to keep the user from leaving the website or platform. They do this by providing content aimed at increasing engagement and keeping users scrolling, thus helping the platforms gain more ad revenue. Too often, this means the content becomes increasingly provocative and emotional 鈥� and it is down this rabbit hole where misinformation thrives.

Now with false and misleading content spreading at a rate that has been called to global society, parents are . Americans want to make sure they and their families are getting the most reliable, accurate and unbiased information possible 鈥� whether researching a project for school, reading the morning news or just browsing the web for fun. In a recent poll by the Associated Press, cited misinformation as a problem when they鈥檙e looking for important information.

In fact, a study recently found that 鈥痮f Americans believe that media literacy education should be required in schools. Still, only three states 鈥� Delaware, New Jersey and Texas 鈥� mandate that media literacy be taught to all K-12 students.

It鈥檚 not that there aren鈥檛 groups fighting for the future generation of the electorate to have a better understanding of the news. Organizations like The News Literacy Project, for example, are doing yeoman鈥檚 work in this area. But for real, substantive results to occur, elected officials need to step up and support this effort.鈥�

Promising steps are being taken to curb the spread of false and misleading information and educate students on how to spot it. In California, 鈥� 鈥� which is being discussed in the state Legislature 鈥� would permit the state鈥檚 Instructional Quality Commission to incorporate media literacy into K-12 curriculum in English language arts, math, science, history and social studies.鈥�

On a federal level, Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar last year introduced the . This would direct the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to award grants to state and local educational agencies, public libraries and qualified nonprofit organizations to develop and promote media literacy and digital citizenship education for elementary and secondary school students. The bill, however, has languished on the Senate floor after making it out of committee.鈥�

To protect the next generation and create digital-savvy news consumers, lawmakers need to act now 鈥� and quickly. Media literacy is a nonpartisan issue that both sides of the aisle can, and should, champion to help educate the country’s future electorate.

South by Southwest Edu returns next week to Austin, Texas, running March 6鈥�9. As always, the event offers hundreds of panels, discussions, film screenings and workshops on education policy, politics, innovation, and of course, this being 2023, the rise of artificial intelligence.

One keynote session will feature the renowned architect Frank Gehry chatting with his younger sister, educator Doreen Gehry Nelson, about creativity, critical thinking and collaboration in education. In another, pollster John Della Volpe will share new data from the November 2022 midterm elections and discuss how to engage with rising Gen Z leaders. 

In yet another, filmmakers will screen a new documentary featuring Oakland-based activist Kareem Weaver, who, fed up with bleak reading scores in his home city, filed a petition with the NAACP demanding change in early reading instruction. 

There鈥檚 actually too much to see and hear in the span of just four days, so 社区黑料 has streamlined the selection process. We鈥檝e scoured the schedule to highlight a few of the most significant presenters, topics and panels that might be worth your time. 

Here鈥檚 a highly subjective list of 23 sessions you shouldn鈥檛 miss in 2023:

Monday, March 6:

: In this session by two educators and a psychologist who treats addiction, panelists will share the neuroscience behind teen brains鈥� unique susceptibility to tech 鈥� and how adults can help students fight it via a science-based digital media curriculum and resources designed to empower teens to develop healthy relationships with their devices. .

: The LEGO Foundation鈥檚 Bo Stjerne Thomsen joins experts in early childhood education, critical thinking, and game-based learning to discuss how educators can chart student progress in hard-to-measure areas while kids play. This discussion will explore new ways to engage kids in creative play in a way that develops essential skills and new methods for assessing growth. .

: The lab director of Community & Implementation at Stanford d.school joins two leading philanthropic leaders to explore opportunities for change that happen when we treat our schools as 鈥渧ital pieces of community infrastructure.鈥� Panelists will discuss what we unlock when educators draw on what students are capable of across physical space, tech innovation and social connection. .

: The pandemic exposed millions of students to the opportunities and limitations of virtual learning. Three years after the most significant disruption to schooling in recent memory, a panel of educators and advocates ask how virtual learning can reshape how we recruit, train, hire, and deploy teachers and how a virtual education workforce could provide new solutions to ongoing staffing problems. This session is moderated by 社区黑料鈥檚 Greg Toppo. .

: The pandemic accelerated a looming teacher shortage, with a twist: Just 20% of teachers are people of color, even as non-white students comprise the majority of U.S students, according to the Education Trust. Yet 40% of public schools do not have a single non-white teacher on record. How can we rethink teacher recruitment and training to ensure that teachers represent the students they serve? This panel explores a national initiative to recruit 1 million teachers of color over the next decade. .

: Polarization in education policy threatens to erode the broad support that schools have long enjoyed. The Aspen Institute and a bipartisan group of state policymakers developed Opportunity to Learn principles to undergird a new, positive bipartisan agenda for improving public education. The panel features Aspen鈥檚 Ross Wiener as well as two state lawmakers (one Democrat and one Republican) to explore how this approach can help rebuild support for public education. .

: Mesa Public Schools, Arizona鈥檚 largest school district, has committed to building team-based staffing models in half of its schools. It now has 30 schools with innovative staffing models, and early results are promising. This panel features a representative of Mesa schools as well as two scholars from Arizona State University, which is partnering with the district on new ways to address teacher shortages and workforce design. .

Tuesday, March 7:

(keynote, livestreamed): In this keynote session, renowned architect Frank Gehry chats with his younger sister, Doreen Gehry Nelson, about their respective careers, sharing their perspectives on the roles that 鈥渃reativity, critical thinking, and collaboration鈥� play in education. Gehry Nelson created a well-known method of design-based learning, a teaching methodology that has been applied in K-12 classrooms worldwide since 1969. .

: In this session, the National Association for Media Literacy Education will discuss implementing 鈥渢rain-the-trainer鈥� models for scaling media literacy education and instruction in schools, districts and communities. This session is led by Donnell Probst, a NAMLE associate director and former college reference librarian. .

: Adequate school funding is a key to educational attainment, but the benefits don鈥檛 stop there. It affects earnings, crime and poverty, research shows. Join a panel of experts from the Learning Policy Institute, the Public Policy Institute of California and the Tennessee Department of Education to hear how funding becomes more equitable to ensure better outcomes, especially as schools tap federal pandemic relief funds. This session is led by The Dallas Morning News鈥� Eva-Marie Ayala. .

: Emerging approaches to demonstrating mastery, as well as advanced computational methods, hold the power to improve assessment while reducing time and administrative costs. Hear leaders across research, government and philanthropy talk about how innovation is creating the assessments of the future. .

: This new documentary film features Oakland-based NAACP activist Kareem Weaver, who was fed up with bleak reading scores in his own community and filed a petition with the NAACP demanding change in early reading instruction. The session also features American Public Media鈥檚 Emily Hanford, whose breakout podcast 鈥淪old a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong鈥� is shining a light on the Science of Reading. .

: For the first time, Arizona State University is offering its courses for credit through YouTube. The partnership, called Study Hall, aims to help potential college-goers navigate higher education by earning credit for their first year of college online. The session features Study Hall鈥檚 Hank Green, a popular YouTuber who has been called “one of America’s most popular science teachers.” His videos have been viewed more than two billion times on YouTube. .

: About 15 million students in the U.S. live with unstable internet access 鈥� or no access at all. A $65 billion broadband-for-all plan is in place, but the effort isn鈥檛 expected to reach the last mile for all students until 2030. In the meantime, what are low-barrier options for students without internet access to access carefully curated resources of digital content on their devices? Hear Endless OS Foundation鈥檚 talk about alternatives. .

Wednesday, March 8:

: John Della Volpe, director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, has been called one of the world鈥檚 leading authorities on global sentiment, opinion, and influence, especially among youth in the age of digital and social media. In this discussion hosted by the Walton Family Foundation, he鈥檒l share new data from the November 2022 midterm elections and the panel will explore how to engage with rising Gen Z leaders to bring their unique vision for unity and collaboration to fruition. . 

: In this 90-minute interactive workshop led by Stanford d.school educators, participants will engage in the fundamental concepts underpinning Artificial Intelligence through symbolic play and hands-on design work. Participants will learn how AI can be used to address societal challenges, explore classroom applications, identify ethical implications and prototype different outcomes for social justice and the education system. .

: Experts say K-12 schools must increasingly offer education that鈥檚 personalized, skill-based, and interdisciplinary. But traditional school transcripts are ill-suited to capture the richness of these approaches. This panel discussion by representatives of the Mastery Transcript Consortium, the XQ Institute, the Aurora Institute and Big Picture Learning will explore insights and lessons learned from their credential design efforts. .

: Pandemic learning loss has engendered countless tutoring initiatives nationwide. Could tutoring be not just a short-term fix but an enduring feature of the U.S. education system? And what does research show about the benefits of online and hybrid models? This session, featuring former Tennessee Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman and current Tennessee Chief Academic Officer Lisa Coons, will look at new research and on-the-ground implementation of evidence-based tutoring programs that improve outcomes for all students, particularly those historically excluded from such services. .

: As the pandemic recedes across the U.S., K-12 superintendents are retiring in droves. Top executive-search firms say business is brisk, with departures as high as any in recent memory. The American Association of School Administrators last fall found that about one in four superintendents had left their jobs in the past year, a marked increase from previous years. In their wake they leave a shallower recruiting pool. So is it time to rethink the superintendent pipeline? Should districts be more engaged in succession planning and growing future superintendents from within? This panel explores Texas school districts that were intentional about developing leaders and whose boards picked high-performing successors from within, allowing the district to keep raising the bar without losing momentum. .

: Educators should be intentionally designing the learning experience, say two experiential learning experts from the Minerva Project, an innovative college program that has made waves in higher education. This workshop will show how they design integrated online and offline immersive experiences that connect the curriculum to the real world 鈥渦sing awe and wonder as pedagogically useful tools.鈥� .

: As drag queen story hours come under fire from conservatives nationwide, advocates say it鈥檚 more important than ever to understand their aim: Using drag as a traditional art form to promote literacy, teach about LGBTQ lives and activate children’s imaginations. This session, featuring three drag queens, will discuss the importance of LGBTQ family programming. .

Thursday, March 9

: This session features of Sandy Hook Promise, who will discuss the group鈥檚 鈥淜now the Signs鈥� school shooting and violence prevention programs. The session will bring together leaders who are equipping students with social and emotional skills to spot warning signs in their peers and intervene safely.

: In this session, two educators from the Groundswell Project UK will talk about young people and extremism, and how we can best challenge hate narratives in our schools and communities. Groundswell has been working in schools to counter hate narratives from the far-right to Islamism to misogynist extremism and other forms of violence. This session will offer best practices to educate youth on these issues. The session will also include personal testimony and examples of how young people can be misguided into extremist thinking 鈥� and how to help support vulnerable young people. .

Disclosure: The Walton Family Foundation and XQ Institute provide financial support to 社区黑料.