Digital Citizenship

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Digital Citizenship is the set of knowledge and practices students need to participate safely, ethically, and confidently in digital environments. Topics include responsible online behavior, the use of social media, cyberbullying prevention, AI literacy, media literacy, and recognizing misinformation. All students must receive instruction on these topics annually to comply with the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) and related federal requirements.

Curriculum

You may provide instruction using any of the approved curricular providers below.

Free Options

  • Be Internet Awesome: Google’s Be Internet Awesome supports students in grades 2 - 7 in being safe, confident explorers in their online world.
  • Common Sense Media: Common Sense Media’s K-12 Digital Literacy & Well-Being Curriculum is a free, research-backed program, that includes interactive lessons on topics such as cyberbullying, privacy & safety, and AI literacy.
  • Digital4Good x #ICANHELP
    A champion for digital safety and well-being for students, parents, teachers, and the community, Digital4Good x #ICANHELP educates, engages, and empowers communities in the use digital media and technology with free tools such as their:
    • The Club Starter Kit inspires students to take action against online negativity by starting a Digital4Good Club. Implementing this, can fulfill the requirement to educate students about appropriate online behavior.
    • Parent Guidelines are dedicated to promoting appropriate digital etiquette and safety at home. 
    • The Social Media Emergency Plan empowers school leaders with the tools and resources to effectively navigate social media emergencies.
  • Edpuzzle Originals - Digital Citizenship: These ready-made, state aligned video lessons help elementary, middle, and high school students become responsible digital citizens. All videos are available in English and Spanish, and have embedded checks for understanding with the option for teachers to add questions, notes, and voiceovers.
  • EverFi- Ignition – Digital Wellness and Safety: Ignition: Digital Wellness and Safety is a digital literacy curriculum designed to provide students in grades 6-9 with the information they need to safely and confidently navigate the digital world, and the skills to leverage technology safely and effectively.
  • Teaching Digital Citizenship Through an Inquiry Lens - The NYC Public Schools Office of Library Services has aligned the Common Sense Digital Citizenship Curriculum to the Empire State Information Fluency Continuum to help build digital citizenship skills through an inquiry model for grades K-12.

Fee Options

  • BrainPOP: FAMIS Vendor ID: BRA550283
    • BrainPOP Jr.
      • Curriculum consists of lesson ideas, quizzes, games, and activities for students in grades K-3
    • BrainPOP Digital Citizenship 
      •  Curriculum consists of topics, learning pathways, and support resources for teachers and students grades 3 and up.
  • Digital4Good x #ICANHELP (FAMIS Vendor ID: ICA589233)
    • The Digital Citizenship Curriculum consists of engaging lessons and peer-to-peer models that educate students about digital citizenship, safety, literacy and wellness. The curriculum features real issues that students face and is designed to help schools decrease online drama, which mitigates in-person issues and decreases student discipline reports. 
    • The Social Media Literacy Curriculum consists of lessons and activities students need to use social media safely and responsibly. 
    • Train the Trainer - Through regional training, Digital4Good prepares teachers, counselors, resource officers and administrators to train students to become peer mentors. Students and staff work with the community and other schools by modeling positive online behavior, and promoting mental health awareness. The package creates an ongoing opportunity to complement existing programs that create a positive school culture and climate.

Other

If you want to use another digital-based curricula, you must make sure that the vendor has a “Completed” status in the Enterprise Request Management Application (ERMA). You can visit the EdTech Portal to check the compliance. 

Schools Must Certify

As soon as schools have educated students about appropriate online behavior, including responsible use of social networking websites and cyberbullying prevention, they  need to certify compliance.

The deadline to certify for the 2026-2027 school year is March 31, 2027.

Learning Opportunities

On-Demand Classes

WeLearn

On-demand Digital Citizenship classes are available from our partners through WeLearnNYC

Sign into the WeLearn platform. Then select the "Discover” tab and type in the name of the class you’d like to take from the list below. The class will then be listed in “My Courses” when you visit your home screen again. Most classes also qualify for CTLE credit:

Digital Citizenship Certification Programs

You can visit our #NYCSchoolsTech certification page for opportunities to take a live-led synchronous class and get certified from Common Sense Education or EverFi.

Social Media 

Learn more about the Social Media Guidelines for staff and students.

Resources

Bell-to-Bell Phone Policy

Digital citizenship instruction has become more important, not less, under the NYC Public Schools phone policy. The policy keeps personal devices stored away during the entire school day. (You may hear this called a “bell to bell” policy.) Because of this rule, most student social media activity now happens at home. Equipping students, families, and staff with practical guidance for that out-of-school time is essential.

Important Dates

Below are dates (listed chronologically) where you might want to focus on cyber safety and digital citizenship.