NLP Annual Report FY20 - Flipbook - Page 3
Dear Friends of NLP,
Our world has been shaken and transformed since
we shared our first annual report with you. In fact,
it often feels like last fall was a decade ago.
We’re proud to say that NLP has responded to
the myriad challenges wrought by COVID-19
with resourcefulness and determination. As
a result, with the second year of our four-year
strategic plan completed, we marked numerous
important gains.
During the 2019-20 school year we brought
news literacy education to 702 educators and
33,894 students through our Checkology®
virtual classroom. The student assessments
conducted at the end of the school year prove that
Checkology works. Far more students were able
to recognize the standards of quality journalism
and to understand the watchdog role of a free
press and the First Amendment in a democracy.
The pandemic and the accompanying
“infodemic” — an overabundance of information,
including misinformation — inspired us to step up
in new and innovative ways.
In March, in response to schools nationwide
transitioning to remote teaching, we decided
to provide Checkology at no cost to educators
and parents engaged in distance learning or
homeschooling. In addition, we created a special
page on our website with reliable information
about COVID-19, used our weekly newsletter The
Sift® to debunk misinformation about the virus,
and developed two educational webinar series
that drew 1,768 participants.
We knew we had to invest in additional resources
to provide a growing number of educators with
the support they needed to teach news literacy.
We created an educator outreach and success
team to respond to our educators and to help
them succeed, providing support to implement
Checkology and promoting the platform to
school districts. We also brought Ebonee Rice,
a community engagement expert, on board to
create and mobilize a nationwide network of
20,000 educators committed to news literacy.
Amid a perfect storm of misinformation and
disinformation from the pandemic, the protests
for racial justice and the 2020 elections, we
moved to expand our mission to include you.
Our free resources are now available to meet the
urgent need for news literacy among people of
all ages, and to help everyone become savvier
consumers of news and information.
We hope that as you read this annual report,
including a special section on the start of this new
fiscal year, you will recognize your contributions in
making these accomplishments possible.
Thank you for your ongoing support and for
helping to preserve a future founded on facts.
Sincerely yours,
Greg McCaffery, Board Chair
Alan C. Miller, Founder and CEO
3
