| This policy analysis project focused on states' policies regarding social media use in education. Currently, policies, practices and laws are not keeping pace with the rapidly changing nature of technology. As a result of the quick advancement of social media practices, the need exists for organic policies and practices within the educational setting. These policies need to start at the state level providing guidance for policy development to local levels in order to be effective. The purpose of this analysis was to determine the level to which states develop and implement social media policy.;In this project, three educators conducted a policy analysis of the state department of education websites for all 50 states within the United States to verify whether these entities are staying abreast with the ever-changing technology. Four standards were identified to describe the degree to which states showed evidence of a social media policy in education. A research-based and validated scoring guide was designed to evaluate the degree to which each state displayed complete, partial, or no evidence of social media policy.;Subsequently, only 19 states were found to have at least partial evidence of a formal or informal social media policy. Based on this analysis, conclusions and recommendations were created. These recommendations addressed the following areas: state legislators as policy makers, state departments of education, local school boards and district leadership, social media's impact on mental health of students, and professional development regarding social media for staff, faculty and students. |
