Earlier this month, NSPRA and CoSN—a membership organization representing school technology leaders—released Schools and Social Media: The Critical Need for Verification and Dedicated Reporting Processes, a report highlighting a series of findings indicating that school districts face significant challenges on social media related to verification and reporting processes.

As part of the ongoing effort to elevate awareness of the issue with social media platforms, NSPRA and CoSN have continued discussions with platform representatives on identifying potential solutions.

Progress to Date

As a result of these ongoing conversations, Twitter has expressed willingness to work directly with NSPRA and CoSN to help K-12 education institutions' official Twitter accounts become verified – a massive step in the right direction in combatting the misinformation that can be caused by fake-official and district impersonation accounts on social media. While details are still being finalized, NSPRA hopes to share information about the process shortly.

In addition, Twitter and LinkedIn have both indicated interest in participating in professional development opportunities to further association members' knowledge and understanding of the platforms. Stay tuned for more details as they become available.

NSPRA and CoSN also remain committed to furthering dedicated verification and reporting efforts with Meta (Facebook and Instagram), TikTok, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.

Resources and Guidance

In the meantime, NSPRA has curated resources and guidance to assist school districts in getting verified and reporting accounts/posts on social media based on information provided by various social media platform representatives as well as association staff research.

While members are encouraged to review this guidance, it should be noted that the majority of these resources provided by platforms are for use by all social media users; they are not exclusive to the education community. That is why NSPRA and CoSN are continuing conversations with the platforms around the development of dedicated processes for K-12 education institutions.

In the News

From Forbes to Education Week, a number of publications have reported on both the barriers school districts face to accurately represent themselves on social media and report accounts that bully or students as well as the efforts of NSPRA and CoSN on behalf of its members. You can check out that coverage and more here.

Next Steps

As NSPRA and CoSN work to move these efforts forward, members can also join the call for platforms to solve these social media challenges for schools by distributing the Schools and Social Media: The Critical Need for Verification and Dedicated Reporting Processes report to key audiences such as employees, members, families, voters and elected representatives. And, use the campaign toolkit to help spread the word.

NSPRA and CoSN look forward to sharing the continued progress of ongoing efforts to identify verification and reporting solutions for districts and educational organizations with members.