S588 SCS

Sponsored by:

Senator MICHAEL L. TESTA, JR.

District 1 (Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland)

Senator SHIRLEY K. TURNER

District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)

Co-Sponsored by:

Senators Gopal, A.M.Bucco, Singer, Greenstein, Stanfield and O'Scanlon

SYNOPSIS

Directs DOE to develop New Jersey Student Learning Standards in separate content area of Information Literacy.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

Substitute as adopted by the Senate Education Committee.

An Act concerning the New Jersey Student Learning Standards and supplementing Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. a. As used in this act, the term “information literacy” means a set of skills that enables an individual to recognize when information is needed and to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information. Information literacy includes, but is not limited to, digital, visual, media, textual, and technological literacy.

b. The State Board of Education shall adopt New Jersey Student Learning Standards in the separate content area of Information Literacy. The content area of Information Literacy shall include instruction on, at a minimum:

(1) the research process and how information is created and produced;

(2) critical thinking and using information resources;

(3) research methods, including the difference between primary and secondary sources;

(4) the difference between facts, points of view, and opinions;

(5) accessing peer-reviewed print and digital library resources;

(6) the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information; and

(7) the ethical production of information.

2. The State board shall convene a committee comprised of educators, the majority of which shall include certified school library media specialists, as well as teachers across a broad spectrum of subject areas, and Department of Education personnel to develop New Jersey Student Learning Standards in the separate content area of Information Literacy. The committee shall engage experts to review the standards it develops.

3. Prior to adopting New Jersey Student Learning Standards in the separate content area of Information Literacy, the State board shall conduct at least one public hearing in the northern part of the State, at least one public hearing in the central part of the State, and at least one public hearing in the Southern part of the State for the purpose of permitting the public to comment on the rigor, clarity, and reasonableness of the standards developed by the committee.

4. This act shall take effect immediately.