Suggesting that a separate accreditation criterion for visual literacy proposed for journalism and mass communication schools is insufficient and inappropriate, this paper proposes that the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) develop and support a program promoting visual literacy as a curriculum standard. Following a discussion of various visual literacy definitions, the paper presents background research on the concept of visual literacy in several disciplines, such as reading, psychology, art, and mass communications. The paper then addresses the proliferation of visual symbols in contemporary communications, and the need to set a visual literacy standard. The main portion of the paper discusses six skills-oriented objectives for teaching visual literacy. The visually literate communicator should be able to: (1) read and interpret visible actions or symbols appropriate to media; (2) evaluate and appreciate visual communication from knowledgeable critical perspectives; (3) write or create media appropriate visual messages; (4) integrate visual and verbal content at every stage of the message; (5) recognize legal, ethical, and moral responsibilities inherent in presenting visuals in a mass communications context; and (6) understand the mechanical processes of communications media as they affect the visual message. The concluding sections of the paper consider methods for measuring students' visual literacy skills, suggestions for curriculum changes that include visual literacy, and the role of the Visual Communications Division of AEJMC in establishing visual literacy as a standard of education in journalism and mass communication schools. (A sample visual literacy standard and notes are appended.) (NKA)