UCLA’s Teacher Education Program plans to discontinue one of its signature course offerings, faculty said.

The program’s critical media literacy classes help students analyze media, evaluate the quality of information sources and examine representation online, according to the TEP website. Housed within Center X at the School of Education and Information Studies, TEP trains aspiring educators pursuing a master’s degree in education and California teaching credentials, with a focus on preparing future teachers to work in underserved Los Angeles communities.

“That’s what we’re trying to do … create informed citizens who can think critically, can question and challenge the dominant messages and create alternative representations,” said Jeff Share, a senior lecturer of critical media literacy.

TEP will no longer offer its standalone critical media literacy class after spring 2026, Share said.

“There’s never been a more pressing time to have students thinking critically about media,” Share said. “We’re in a media age (of) media spectacle, misinformation, disinformation, fake news, AI.”

The Los Angeles Unified School District school board unanimously passed a resolution in 2021 requiring critical media literacy instruction for high school students.

Assembly Bill 873, passed in 2023, also requires California K-12 schools to teach media literacy. The classes aim to help students identify false or misleading information online.

Share said TEP’s courses help future teachers incorporate media literacy into their classrooms. However, he said he believes there has not been enough institutional support for the subject within the School of Ed&IS.

John McDonald, the director of media relations for the School of Ed&IS, said in an emailed statement that TEP adjusted its critical media literacy coursework to align with program needs and credentialing requirements.

“Critical media literacy remains part of UCLA’s teacher education framework,” he said in the statement.

Emma Hipolito and Nicole Mirra, directors of TEP, said in an emailed statement that they consistently revise program curriculum to address new policies and ensure their students’ wellbeing. Hipolito and Mirra added in the statement that they believe critical media literacy is an important topic for aspiring educators.

The course cuts come as UCLA navigates broader budgetary issues, including an estimated $220 million deficit for the 2025-26 fiscal year, according to a March campuswide email from Interim Chief Financial Officer Reem Hanna-Harwell.

Hanna-Harwell announced the estimate more than a month after Stephen Agostini, UCLA’s former CFO, alleged to the Daily Bruin that the university had run a $425 million annual projected deficit due to administrators’ financial mismanagement.

[Related: Interim CFO says UCLA’s budget deficit is markedly lower than previous estimates]

UCLA is also allegedly defunding the Ethnic Studies Certificate Program, which is housed under TEP. The ESCP provides training for teachers to implement ethnic studies curricula in K-12 classrooms.

[Related: ‘Absolutely horrendous’: Is a UCLA ethnic studies program for K-12 teachers in danger?]

Giselle Moreno, a TEP student, said critical media literacy coursework was one of the reasons she joined the program.

Moreno, who is a student teacher at LAUSD schools, said the course helped her design lessons that were more inclusive and encouraged students to consider perspectives often left out of traditional curricula.

Critical media literacy is central to TEP’s broader social justice mission, Moreno said. She added that she was disheartened by the class cuts.

“It’s incredibly frustrating, especially since that’s the basis of what the teaching education program is at UCLA compared to other programs,” she said.

Alejandro Juarez-Ugalde, an LAUSD student teacher who took the critical media literacy course, said UCLA’s TEP was the only program he applied to because of its emphasis on critical thinking and focus on uplifting underrepresented communities.

Critical media literacy is crucial because it allows people to analyze the quality of the media they consume daily, Juarez-Ugalde said.

“There’s going to be a whole new generation of teachers that are going to go out into the field and won’t be teaching critical media literacy to our kids, and it’s important now more than ever,” he said.

Under the new program changes, Juarez-Ugalde said he no longer believes TEP reflects the quality of education he originally signed up for.

Andrea Gambino, a UCLA alumnus who develops critical media literacy curriculum and trains educators in school districts including LAUSD, said the courses help students understand how media is constructed and how media producers shape representation of concepts.

“I can’t even begin to express how important this is in an era of disinformation, in an era where we’re experiencing more suppression of journalists and the freedom of speech,” Gambino said.

About 77% of teachers are self-taught in media literacy, according to the National Association for Media Literacy Education.

Media literacy is not yet recognized internationally as an essential human right, Gambino said, adding that UCLA should continue to be a leader in the field.

“I can’t imagine UCLA without critical media literacy,” Gambino said. “It’s such a hallmark of our educational programming.”