From mission to movement
Our strategic plan outlines the actions we will take to bring lasting change to public education by ensuring that all students are skilled in news literacy before they graduate from high school.
#image_titleThe big picture
In 2008, we helped establish the field of news literacy education, and nearly 20 years later, we’re still leading the way. As a trusted partner to educators and school districts in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., we provide free news literacy resources that students need in a world where facts compete with misinformation.
The challenge
False and misleading information is everywhere — and it is causing real harm.
It divides communities, erodes trust and makes it harder to know what is factual. Current learning standards don’t always put a priority on how to think critically, sort facts from falsehoods or find common ground with others. And because most states don’t require news literacy education, students are left without the skills they need — in school, at work and in their daily lives.
The solution
We believe every student should learn news literacy, just as they do math or English. That is why our goal is bold and ambitious: Make news literacy part of required learning nationwide. As the leader in this field, NLP has the experience and reach to make this a reality. Students who learn news literacy in middle and high school know how to spot false or misleading content, identify credible sources and think carefully about the information they use. These skills help them push back against misinformation and make informed choices that shape their futures — and our society.
Three essential paths to achieve lasting change in education by 2028
- Advance state-level action: Build and support strong local coalitions that champion statewide commitments to require news literacy instruction before high school graduation.
- Build broad understanding and support: Show why news literacy matters — and help more people see it as an essential civic skill, not a partisan issue. We do this through groundbreaking research, trusted resources and community outreach.
- Create successful teaching models: Partner directly with educators and school districts to build and refine approaches to teaching news literacy that others can adopt and scale.
Our goals
By June 2028:
Long-term social impact
2.5 million students
will be guaranteed news literacy instruction before high school graduation through our direct support of state and district initiatives.
Short-term direct impact
3.5 million students
will have been taught news literacy skills (since 2016) using NLP’s resources.
20,000+ educators
in more than one-third of all U.S. public school districts will use NLP resources in the classroom each year (by the end of the 2027-28 school year).
NLP’s resources are proven to work
Annual independent assessments consistently show that NLP’s tools aren’t just useful, they also improve student outcomes. After completing Checkology® lessons during the 2024-25 school year:
88%
of students recognized when a social media post failed to provide credible evidence — a gain of 20 percentage points from before they started Checkology.
82%
of students identified the more credible of two articles on the same topic from two different sources — a gain of 23 percentage points from before they started Checkology.
81%
of students recognized that a free press is very important to a healthy democracy — a gain of 17 percentage points from before they started Checkology.