In 2029, PISA (the Programme for International Student Assessment), the international test that compares the knowledge and skills of 15-year-old students across countries, will assess media and AI literacy. You can read more about it on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’s website.
Based on my reading, it appears the test will assess students’ understanding of “how media platforms and AI systems work, the human role in media, the social and ethical consequences of using these tools, effective communication and collaboration on media platforms and with AI systems, and critical evaluation of digital content.”
This suggests that the test will not assess technical knowledge—rather, it will test students’ ability to think critically about the information they encounter online.
What the Assessment Will Cover
The first draft of the PISA 2029 Media & Artificial Intelligence Literacy (MAIL) assessment, published in January 2026, includes three key concepts:
- Authors and Audience
- Messages and Meanings
- Representations and Realities
I encourage you to review the full draft and spend time reflecting on it within your schools.
These are exactly the competencies school librarians have been building for years under the banner of information literacy. This puts school librarians in an important leadership position as districts figure out how to respond.
School districts will need to ensure they are teaching media and AI literacy—which means school librarians have an important role to play because they are frequently the leaders in these areas.
How School Librarians Can Help Prepare
The AILit Framework is a joint effort by the OECD and the European Commission and is being used by PISA 2029. Looking at this document and working with district administrators to map where literacy skills appear in the curriculum is a good place to start.
1. Support Professional Development
Use the AILit Framework and the recently published AI Literacy Framework from the U.S. Department of Labor as starting points for teacher professional development. Teachers do not need to become technology experts. Instead, they do need to learn how AI shapes the content their students encounter, and how to ask better questions about it. Short, subject-specific sessions will likely be more effective than one-size-fits-all training for teachers.
2. Guide Lesson Creation
Help teachers develop lessons that build students’ core information literacy skills. Ultimately, media and AI literacy are built upon strong information literacy skills. School librarians can lead lessons on authority, source evaluation, the purpose of content, etc.
3. Model Information Literacy Skills
Then, when working directly with students, model good information literacy skills and connect those skills to media and AI literacy. Walk students through evaluating a source, questioning an AI-generated summary, or noticing how search results are shaped by algorithms.
4. Advocate for Your Role
Finally, advocate for yourself and ask for a seat at the table. School librarians are uniquely situated to instruct in the skills needed for media and AI literacy.
2029 Is Closer Than It Seems
While 2029 may feel far away, it is not. While many schools are addressing AI, it may not always have gone through an information literacy lens. That is an approach I encourage you to take.
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