Students learn to view media carefully: Montana: Missoula County Public Schools.

Educating children to become more skeptical media consumers was determined to be an important goal in Missoula, Mont., because of evidence linking media to youth violence and substance abuse.

As a result, the Media Literacy Community Action Team (CAT)--a task force of the Missoula Forum for Children & Youth--and Missoula County Public Schools worked together to introduce media literacy concepts into classrooms, after-school activities, teacher enrichment days, parent programs and community child-care professional training sessions.

The media literacy program, for which Missoula County Public Schools received the 2005 Civic Star Award for Montana, focuses on critical thinking skills, analysis and active vs. passive viewing skills.

Its goal is to help students develop stronger analytical capabilities and learn to understand techniques used by advertisers to sell products and encourage life styles that involve the use of alcohol or tobacco; rely on body images, violence or sex; and perpetuate representations of cultures, races and ethnic groups.

Students are also taught to recognize the effects of media on their actions and thoughts and to form and articulate their own opinions of media. They also develop an understanding of media's role in society.

The team that developed the program includes representatives of the Missoula public libraries, schools librarians and teachers, Montana State University extension services, the Missoula City-County Health Department, an after-school and summer drug and alcohol prevention program called Flagship, Turning Point Addiction Services, Women's Opportunity & Resource Development program and the Missoula Forum for Children & Youth.

The group developed a teacher's media literacy tool kit, including fact sheets, articles, activities and web sites. It hosted a media literacy training session for 35 community professionals, established a speakers' bureau, distributed information at a health fair and piloted a summer media literacy program through Flagship.

Because the community action team involves a variety of organizations and services, it has the ability to affect many students in the county.

The task force's long-term objectives are to:

* Create a sustainable board to continue the work already begun.

* Increase the availability of training and resources to parents, teachers and students.

* Develop an expanded packet of curriculum materials with developed activities.

* Continue to integrate media literacy into existing curricula, after-school programs and camps.

For more information on the program, contact Superintendent Jim Clark, Missoula County Public Schools, 215 S. Sixth St. West, Missoula, Mont., 59801, or call [phone], Ext. 1022. Clark's e-mail address is [e-mail].