Both Northern Valley high schools have been recognized as centers of innovation, leadership, and educational excellence that use Apple Technology to inspire creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking.
Both Northern Valley Regional High School
District high schools have been recognized as Apple Distinguished Schools. This designation, awarded to each school
separately, is in recognition of the innovative teaching and learning practices
that the students, staff, and administration utilize daily.
Apple characterizes Apple Distinguished
Schools as centers of innovation, leadership, and educational excellence, that
use Apple technology to inspire creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking.
They showcase innovative uses of technology in learning, teaching, and the
school environment, and have documented results of academic accomplishment. Due
to the stringent criteria and application process in place to receive this
recognition, there are only 470 Apple Distinguished Schools worldwide. Northern Valley currently represents the only
New Jersey high school to earn this honor.
For five consecutive years, Northern Valley Regional High School
District has provided Apple MacBook computers to all students and staff while
emphasizing student-centered instruction, the use of transformative technology,
and Universal Design for Learning. Northern Valley Superintendent James Santana
feels these are critical for learning in the 21st century.
“More and more, our teachers are ensuring that
students are at the center,” Santana explained.
“Our kids are engaging in real-world problem-solving and engineering
solutions to tomorrow’s problems.
They’re connecting with experts across the globe. In some cases, they’re literally video
conferencing with astronauts.”
NVOT Social Studies teacher Christine Massaro,
whose students do in fact video conference with astronauts, served on Old
Tappan’s Apple Distinguished Schools team.
Regarding the application process, she explained, “I was in awe of all
the different and innovative ways our teachers are using technology across the
curricula. I think we are humble by nature as teachers and don't always
showcase our amazing teaching strategies with technology. As soon as we asked
for student examples from teachers, the results came flying in!”
NVD English teacher Dave Caminiti, who served on
Demarest’s Apple Distinguished Schools team, elaborated: “The students and
staff at NVD have transformed the school through the use of the MacBook
Airs. Our classrooms have become
learning labs where we are now able to do more than we ever had before. All the teachers and students have strived to
put their MacBook Airs to the best possible use, and, as such, we have become a
leader in educational technology.” He
added, of the application process: “We were able to see just how much our
school's culture and learning environments have changed in the past years. It seems as though each new class of students
that enters our building finds another way to enhance their high school
experience with their MacBooks. We look
forward to seeing what the future can bring.”
Earlier this year, Northern Valley Regional
High School District was also awarded the highest level of recognition offered
by Future Ready Schools - New Jersey, “Future Ready Silver District
Distinction.” When asked about the
various recognitions being earned by the district, Superintendent Santana said,
“I am honored to have the privilege to work with students and staff who are
motivated by and committed to excellence in everything they do. For many years
Northern Valley has been at the forefront of innovation and these many recent
awards affirm that we are still leading the way.”
Northern
Valley Regional High School District is a nationally recognized school of
excellence located in northeastern Bergen County that serves students of all
abilities from ages 3 - 21.
If you would like more information about the
innovative use of Apple technology at NVRHS, please contact David Janosz, NVRHS
Supervisor of Technology Education: [email protected] or Marc Cicchino, NVRHS
Director of Innovation ([email protected]).