News Literacy Project Inc

The News Literacy Project, a nonpartisan nonprofit, develops digital education resources – like the Checkology® virtual classroom – that help students build the skills to identify trustworthy news and information. Our mission: advance the development and teaching of news literacy in K-12 education so all students in the U.S. graduate high school prepared to think critically and independently. Since 2016, we have reached 1.5+ million students —by 2028, our goal is 3.5 million.

Checkology link: https://get.checkology.org/explore/

In 2008, the News Literacy Project helped establish the field of news literacy education, and nearly 20 years later it still leads the way. As a trusted partner to educators and school districts in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, NLP provides free resources that students need in a world where facts compete with misinformation.

NLP exists because 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 prioritize critical thinking, sorting facts from falsehoods or finding common ground across differences. 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.

News literacy teaches how to judge the trustworthiness of information, not what to think about it. It is a key life skill and foundational to any media literacy, digital literacy or civics education program. 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 help 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.

In the 2024-25 school year:

Impact metrics
- Nationwide, 15,798 educators in 4,801 school districts used NLP’s resources to teach news literacy skills to 574,418 students.
- In Orange County, 92 educators in 21 school districts used NLP resources to teach over 3,400 students.

An independent assessment shows that Checkology improved student learning outcomes in the last 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 using 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 using 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 using Checkology).

The real-life impact of news literacy skills on teens
A recent Teen Vogue article highlights how news literacy skills have made a tangible difference in students' daily lives and includes interviews with students who learned these skills using NLP’s resources. One student recognized that election poll numbers circulating on TikTok were actually from a betting site and warned friends to seek credible sources. Another said news literacy training changed the way she approaches everyday information, making her more skeptical of sensational headlines and more likely to dig deeper before believing or sharing a story. A third applied news literacy skills to help manage her school’s news page, better evaluate credibility and bias, and help facilitate a class to teach her peers.

Current year goals
16,500 educators in 4,250 school districts nationwide use NLP resources to teach 625,000 students news literacy skills.

Teen Vogue article link: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/media-literacy-schools-misinformation

NLP’s in-house product team recently rebuilt the Checkology platform from the ground up and combined its 20 interactive lessons with all of NLP’s educator resources into one seamless hub. Built with educator feedback, the new experience makes it easier than ever to customize lessons, explore infographics and activities, and teach news literacy skills. In August 2025, this integrated version of Checkology debuted on Clever, making it instantly available in more than 110,000 schools nationwide. Clever is a technology platform that is free to schools and allows students and educators to access multiple educational tools with a single, secure login. Because of donor support, Checkology and all NLP programs remain free to educators and students. NLP’s most pressing needs are securing support for our teams that produce resources and curriculum for educators and students and the teams that design and maintain NLP’s digital properties: Research + Design team ($1.42M) and Product team ($1.75M).

NLP primarily serves public schools nationwide – urban, suburban and rural – reaching a highly diverse student population: according to NCES data (average from 2018-22 school years), 53% are from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds and over half qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.