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Districtwide News Literacy Approaches for the K-12 Experience: Leading by Example
Tuesday, October 27, 2026 @ 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm EDT
Districtwide News Literacy Approaches for the K-12 Experience: Leading by Example
Presented by Elliott Goodman, Former Educator, Current Director of District Fellowships, News Literacy Project; Dr. Brittney Smith, Former Educator, Current Director of District Fellowships, News Literacy Project; Morgan Bricker, Journalism Teacher and Weir Student Media Adviser, Weir High School, Hancock County Schools (WV); Keely Moran, K-12 Learning Coach, Crested Butte Community School, Gunnison Watershed School District (CO); and Miranda Stefano, Librarian, Edison Tech High School, Rochester City School District (NY)
Sponsored by News Literacy Project
Learn more about earning a CE certificate and our accessibility features.
Whether we’re interacting with AI, scrolling social media, or preparing to vote in the next election, news literacy skills such as analyzing credibility and identifying misinformation are essential for everyday life. Students who don’t have these skills benefit from a unified approach to news literacy education throughout their K-12 experience.
As many school communities confront this challenge, 44 school districts in 16 states around the country are leading the way with innovative models to ensure their students possess news literacy skills before graduation. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to learn directly from their experience.
Elliott Goodman and Brittney Smith, the News Literacy Project’s Directors of District Fellowships, lead a conversation with educators from Gunnison Watershed School District in Gunnison, Colorado, Hancock County Schools in New Cumberland, West Virginia, and Rochester City School District in Rochester, New York. All three districts participate in the News Literacy Project’s three-year District Fellowship program.
Learn how these districts created news literacy initiatives tailored to their communities’ needs and hear what has worked—and what hasn’t—when it comes to collaborating with other educators and ensuring long-term success. You’ll gain inspiration and ideas that you can apply immediately, and an insider’s perspective from educators who are part of the District Fellowship program. You also learn how to start an application for your own district.
This recorded edWebinar is ideal for K-12 educators and school- and district-level leaders.
About the Presenters
Elliott Goodman is the Director of District Fellowships at the News Literacy Project. He supports the implementation of districtwide strategies to bring news literacy education to students across the country. Before joining NLP in 2025, Elliott served as lead teacher and department chair at a high school in the Los Angeles Unified School District, where he spearheaded the development of a new academic program and three new courses, in addition to teaching government, economics, and geography. Elliott also taught Latin in New York and California. At The English-Speaking Union in New York City, Elliott ran the Middle School Public Debate Program, the National Shakespeare Competition, and four other programs promoting public speaking and international exchange. He also served on the Educator Community Team at TeachersPayTeachers. Elliott is a graduate of Teachers College at Columbia University and The University of Chicago. He earned his teaching credential at California State University, Northridge.
Dr. Brittney Smith is the Director of District Fellowships at the News Literacy Project. She helps build and support district-level partnerships across the eastern U.S. Before joining NLP, she spent eight years teaching life science in Cincinnati. In her tenure as science department chair, she focused on building partnerships with community stakeholders to enrich and improve students’ educational experiences. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biological science from the University of Cincinnati and a master’s degree in teaching science to adolescents and young adults from Mount St. Joseph University. She received her doctorate in educational practice and innovation with a STEM focus from the University of South Carolina in December 2024.
Morgan Bricker teaches journalism and advises Weir Student Media at Weir High School, where her students produce a news website, a yearbook, daily announcements, and an annual senior video. She holds a master's degree in journalism education through Kent State University and Master Journalism Educator certification through the Journalism Education Association. Morgan serves as Hancock County’s Lead Fellow for the News Literacy Project District Fellowship Program (Cohort 4), JEA State Director for W.Va., Blog Coordinator for the JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee, and President of the West Virginia Scholastic Media Association. She worked with the Student Press Law Center, WVJEA members, and students to help enact New Voices legislation in 2023. For their advocacy efforts, Weir High School has been selected for the First Amendment Press Freedom Award for the last three years, and Morgan was bestowed the 2026 Candace and John Bowen Adviser First Amendment Leadership Award.
Keely Moran is a Learning Coach at Crested Butte Community School, a K-12 school, in the Gunnison Watershed School District (GWSD). This is her fourth year as a Learning Coach, where she works primarily with new teachers, co-leading the district’s Induction Program. In addition, she supports all teachers with student learning and co-leads the News Literacy work at her school. Prior to becoming a Learning Coach, Keely taught elementary STEM for 10 years in both GWSD and Cherry Creek Schools in the Denver area. During that time, she led project-based learning work in both districts and was featured in the PBL Works “Favorite Projects of 2018” blog. Her educational career also includes being a fifth-grade classroom teacher for seven years and a middle school ELA, social studies, and science teacher for four years. She is passionate about creating learning opportunities for students and staff that are relevant, engaging, innovative, and purposeful.
Miranda Stefano is a Librarian at the Rochester City School District. She is a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology and The University of Maryland. Her passions are information literacy, primary sources, and professional learning.
Join the News Literacy community to network with educators, participate in online discussions, receive invitations to upcoming edWebinars, and view recordings of previous programs to earn CE certificates.
Learn more about earning a CE certificate and our accessibility features.
The News Literacy Project, a nonpartisan education nonprofit, provides educators in all 50 states with the resources they need to ensure every student graduates with the ability to thoughtfully evaluate news and information. For nearly 20 years, the News Literacy Project has offered free resources to help educators make news literacy engaging and accessible for their students. Our mission is simple: Help young people become critical consumers of news and information so that they can make more informed decisions throughout their lives and within their communities.
