Educational Standards and Media Literacy
Part 3: Linking Media Literacy to Standards-based Education
The standards movement in education emerged at about the same time (1980s) that media literacy education was gaining a foothold in Australia, England and especially in Canada where a group of high school English teachers formed the Association for Media Literacy (AML) and began to work with the Ontario Ministry of Education to write a media literacy "framework" that dovetailed with the existing English/Language Arts framework for grades 6 - 12. The resulting Media Literacy Resource Guide continues to be the leading document in the world connecting media literacy to everyday classroom instruction.
It's enduring brilliance lies in the practical realization that to find a place in the already crowded curriculum of most school systems, education about media must be "integrated across the curriculum." In Language Arts, this means building onto the traditional four strands of instruction: "reading/writing" and "listening/speaking," by adding two additional strands: "viewing/re-presenting." (The term "representing" is often used interchangeably with the concept of "production" or "creating" media – i.e. making a re-presentation of an idea.)
In the U.S., the state of Texas adopted this same approach and in 1999 published a new set of Language Arts standards: Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) incorporating all six strands for kindergarten through high school. In 2001, McREL expanded its language arts matrix to define standards for both "viewing" and (creating) "media." Situating media literacy as the educational process to introduce, practice and master information skills needed to thrive in our 21st century multi-media culture is a significant turning point for the acceptance of media literacy in U.S. schools nationwide.