At Palo Alto High School in California, students in Esther Wojcicki’s media studies program, Moonshots Edu, have total control of both the school’s newspaper and magazine. In other words, students have the freedom to publish stories on any topic without the principal’s approval. The idea behind Wojcicki’s initiative is simple: to teach students media literacy and fact-checking.

Wojcicki was just one of several individuals to provide input on the topic of “Democracy, Citizenship and Literacy” during the January 16th meeting of the Knight Commission on Trust, Media and Democracy. As an initiative led by the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, this was the second in a series of commission meetings to be held across the nation. Along with Wojcicki, experts from the fields of education, journalism, tech and law, discussed ways to rebuild American trust in democracy and journalism through improved media literacy. Retooling American civics education to help students cultivate such skills is fundamental to improving this literacy.

It’s not that American schools do not already have civics education programs in place. Rather, many of these programs include largely outdated and theoretical courses that don’t prepare students for the independent fact-checking and online reading they need today. Wojcicki’s students, who work independently and are graded on accuracy, learn how to evaluate political bias and check multiple sources.

Read the full article about teaching high schoolers to spot fake news by Sean McGovern at The Aspen Institute.