A national non-profit, the News Literacy Project publishes many resources to educate the public on core journalistic practices. Its most widely-promoted resource is Checkology, a free, online program that teaches students how to identify traits of a credible news source, distinguish facts from opinions, and evaluate the sources in a news story. Participants also learn the role of journalism in the United States, including the laws protecting the right for journalists to practice, like the First Amendment.
Checkology’s positive impact resonates throughout multiple areas of students’ academic and intellectual lives. In the 2020-2021 school year, more than 50,000 students took the course, as part of their middle or high school curricula. 81 percent of students said, after taking the course, they could identify the rights protected by the First Amendment. 61 percent said they could recognize a quality news article, and 80 percent said they learned how to not only identify credible information sources, but use them more effectively in their own writing.