HB1559eng 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB1559 Engrossed LRB101 05004 AXK 50013 b

AN ACT concerning education.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The School Code is amended by adding Section 27-20.08 as follows:

(105 ILCS 5/27-20.08 new)

Sec. 27-20.08. Media literacy.

(a) In this Section, "media literacy" means the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and communicate using a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, print, visual, audio, interactive, and digital texts.

(b) Beginning with the 2019-2020 school year, every public high school may include in its curriculum a unit of instruction on media literacy. The unit of instruction shall include, but is not limited to, analyzing:

(1) the purpose of media messages and how they are constructed;

(2) explicit and implicit media messages;

(3) values and points of view that are included and excluded in the media;

(4) how the media may influence ideas and behaviors; and

(5) the importance of obtaining information from multiple media sources.

(c) The State Superintendent of Education may prepare and make available to school boards instructional materials that may be used as guidelines for development of a unit of instruction under this Section.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.