Thank you for your interest in our project! If you would like to participate in the project, please complete this form.
On this page, you will find background information about the project and links to additional information.
Democracies depend on access to reliable information. Young people increasingly make decisions based on information they find online and it is crucial that we identify ways to help them be discerning consumers of digital content.
For the last three years, the Stanford History Education Group has developed assessments that gauge how well students make sense of the information they encounter on their phones, tablets, and laptops. Our assessments ask students to evaluate different types of online sources (e.g., tweets, Facebook posts, websites, etc.).
Our prior research has shown that students from middle school to college struggle to evaluate the content they encounter online. This work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, PBS, BBC, NPR, and dozens of other outlets across the world.
Over the next year, we are administering our assessments to high school students across the United States. Our goal is to construct a picture of students’ proficiency in evaluating online content, allowing us to describe their ability with attention to inequities across student subpopulations, and across different regions of the country.
For more information, please read this letter from Professor Sam Wineburg, read the project summary, review the project FAQ, look through sample tasks, and watch the video below. If you would like to participate in the project, please complete this form.
Gibson Consulting Group is assisting with the administration of the tasks. If you have any questions, please contact:
Stanford History Education Group's director of assessment Dr. Mark Smith: msmith4@stanford.edu
Gibson Consulting Group's director of research Dr. Amie Rapaport: arapaport@gibsonconsult.com