Schools must teach math. Students also learn social studies and science. Well, kids in New Jersey will soon be studying another subject. On January 4, the state’s governor signed a law. It says New Jersey must teach information literacy in all public schools from kindergarten to grade 12. New Jersey is the first state to do this.
So, what is information literacy? The bill calls it “a set of skills that an individual to recognize when information is needed and to locate, , and effectively use the needed information.” You use information literacy when you read. That could be books or news stories. You also need it for social media. Information literacy includes skills for media literacy.
Michael Testa is a New Jersey state senator. He voted for the bill. (The bill passed the state senate 36–0.) “Teaching children information literacy will help them to weigh the flood of news,” said Testa. “This isn’t about teaching kids that any specific idea is true or false,” he added. “It’s about helping them learn how to research, evaluate, and understand the information for themselves.”
It can be hard to know what information is real. Some sites or social media posts have fake facts. Governor Murphy said he wanted to give kids “the tools to identify fact from fiction.” He said he was “proud” to sign this bill in Trenton, New Jersey.
Ewa Dziedzic-Elliott called this law “a huge win for educators.” She’s the president of the New Jersey Association of School Librarians. Dziedzic-Elliott said information literacy supports all subjects in school. “We’re trying to add another layer to what we teach,” she explained. That means showing how “the content is and how it is evaluated.”
Experts will now work to add information literacy to New Jersey’s classrooms. That may take two years. Other states may pass similar bills too. “We are setting a tone for the country,” said Dziedzic-Elliott. “We believe our success is going to push through to other states.”
Updated January 5, 2023, 5:02 P.M. (ET)
By Russell Kahn (Russ)
