The State Board of Education’s English Language Arts Standards Recommendation Committee revised the elective journalism sequence (Journalism 1–4) during an October 2025 virtual meeting, emphasizing ethical information gathering, audience‑appropriate language, technology use, and multimedia production skills.

Committee members moved the journalism sequence toward a clearer scaffold: foundational skills in early courses, coaching and leadership in intermediate courses, and evaluation/management tasks in capstone courses. The committee replaced vague or duplicative items and consolidated visual-design requirements into a single multimedia standard that asks students to "identify and use multimedia elements that adhere to a style and enhance visual appeal," with examples such as graphic design, layout and video production offered as guidance rather than mandatory tasks.

The committee agreed on common language across the sequence for several core expectations: determining appropriate language conventions for audience and situation; demonstrating appropriate journalistic writing styles for a variety of media and audiences; using digital tools to create, edit and revise publication-ready content; and gathering information, researching, and reporting ethically. Members emphasized that ethical research and reporting are central across all journalism electives, not only at the capstone level.

Committee members also added a career-focused standard for advanced students to identify student-journalism contests and entry-level media work experiences and to research educational and career pathways. The capstone-level language asks students, with teacher guidance, to evaluate editorial suitability and to participate in production and management tasks when appropriate.

Throughout the discussion, members moved away from overly prescriptive wording (for example, removing references to “micro essays” and replacing them with broader language about publication options) and sought consistency with other elective standards on digital citizenship and digital tools. The committee used consensus approvals for wording changes; formal roll-call voting on the meeting recording as minutes was the only recorded roll-call vote in the transcript.

Staff will consolidate the committee’s edits into a cleaned draft and a single parking‑garage glossary for final committee review.