Recently, Point Pleasant Beach School District was recognized as an Apple Distinguished School District, and its two schools, G. Harold Antrim Elementary School and Point Pleasant Beach High School, as Apple Distinguished Schools. According to the program’s description, we received this honor for “inspiring, imagining, and impacting teaching and learning through continuous innovation.” Regardless of the ultimate outcome, our experience preparing our application for consideration is a reminder that the process of pursuing a recognition for your school or district serves your school community in meaningful ways and can be a great method of evaluating the district’s goals or identifying new goals to set.

A core component of this year’s application required us to demonstrate that we met the standard as a “center of leadership and educational excellence, with a clear vision for how technology-rich environments support learning goals.” It is one thing to believe those descriptors reflect our organization, and quite another to complete a thorough self-assessment to see how well we really measure up. In the process, we paused and considered the definitions of key terms like “vision,” “technology-rich” and “support,” as these terms are so present in our daily lives that they can become almost colloquial, lacking precise, commonly agreed upon meanings.

One of the most important steps in the process of self-evaluation is asking hard questions of the organization like, How would we illustrate educational excellence in pictures and words? How would our students respond if we asked them what excellence looks like in their classrooms (from their teachers and in their work)? What do we do that uniquely positions our students to pursue their aspirations confidently? Can we point to concrete practices that illustrate how we contribute to those aspirational pursuits for ALL students? Questions like these are always worth asking and reflecting upon, but assembling an application with supporting evidence illuminates both our successes and shortcomings.

The application process for the 2024 cycle of awards was heavily reliant upon student films and short essays written by each school’s principal. This year, the central themes of application were Inspire, Imagine, and Impact. School communities often invest great energy developing and refining mission statements meant to reflect the district’s purpose and inspire collective action. Reaching for that purpose requires leadership, vision, and an organized and focused approach. Finding examples of Inspiration in our leadership activities, classroom practices, curriculum, and student work helped us measure where we were hitting the mark and where gaps existed between our anticipated outcomes and reality. Conveying Inspiration in words and pictures led us to reflect on our communication practices to all stakeholders.

The second theme, Imagine, required examples of how we provide an environment that encourages agency and collaboration, engenders creativity, and resonates in a palpable school culture. Years ago, we might have pointed to our 1:1 initiative and indicated how these tools could help students join a world eager to collaborate with them, all at the tips of their fingers. Today, we explored how our devices accelerate students’ ability to bring an idea from concept to finished product, using realtime collaborative tools and media that engages the audience. We also examined how our approach to demonstrating mastery of content has changed, from traditional tests to student generated work samples and student-selected, performance-based tasks.

Perhaps the theme that prompted the most introspection was Impact. Asking ourselves, How do our schools leave the world better than we found it? and What do we accept as evidence of our success? really forces us to establish a barometer for when we will/have become satisfied that our goals have been achieved. Success, of course, is a loaded word when discussing student growth and achievement, but the curation of evidence in this category illuminated what we value and how carefully we adhere to our stated mission.

Our district has lived in the Apple ecosystem for nearly two decades, and our long relationship helped establish eligibility to apply for this recognition. But other local and national recognitions exist. Applying for consideration often requires a self-evaluation against an established set of standards that will then be confirmed by an outside evaluator. This process is consistent with the QSAC, Sustainable Schools for New Jersey, and Middle States accreditation processes. Districts with the courage to confront their weaknesses while celebrating their strengths stand to gain the most. Praise received from outside evaluators results in a wave of district pride. Exposed weaknesses become goals to rally stakeholders behind. And the confidence that comes from experiencing success drives the desire to meet and overcome the next challenge.