Project Community Pilot Study Findings Show Positive Impact on Teachers’ Media Literacy

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CERL Director Diana Owen and Research Specialist Patrick McSweeney recently presented pilot study findings at the Project Community workshop in Philadelphia, where state coordinators and teacher mentors gathered to prepare for the program’s expansion. The research offered compelling evidence of the program’s impact and opportunities for future growth. Project Community is a media literacy addition to the widely used Project Citizen curriculum, designed to help educators meet the growing challenge of guiding students through an increasingly complex media environment.

The Project Community grant provides teachers with targeted professional development focused on integrating Project Citizen and the newly designed media literacy modules. Initial findings from the pilot study, which included teachers from California and Hawaii, along with early student pretest data, revealed several key insights:

• Teachers’ civic knowledge increased by 29% following the Project Community summer institute.
• Before Project Community, teachers lacked confidence in their ability to teach media literacy skills. After the institute, teachers saw significant growth, including a 48% increase in analyzing the credibility of sources, a 48% increase in using media to inform others, and a 35% increase in understanding AI-generated content.
• Students report feeling more confident than their teachers with social media and AI, but still lack confidence in critical media literacy skills, including citing sources, detecting bias, and using media to learn about public policy.

These results sparked lively discussions as participants reflected on the challenges of teaching media literacy in a constantly shifting digital environment. Teachers described feeling overwhelmed by the pace of technological change and the growing complexity that students face in finding trustworthy information. CERL’s research confirmed these concerns while highlighting educators’ strong interest in learning more and having structured, supportive resources and training.

Diana Owen also shared results from a 2023 national survey, which found that while misinformation frequently surfaces in classrooms, most teachers do not feel equipped to address it effectively. Although teachers see it as a greater societal concern, misinformation is also regarded by educators as a pressing classroom issue.

Project Community will expand to four new state institutes this summer, preparing a fresh cohort of teachers to lead this work. CERL’s research will continue to inform program implementation and serve as a key tool for measuring its ongoing effectiveness.