Common Sense, the national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping students and families thrive in media and technology advances, has dubbed Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) a Common Sense school.  

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, reliance on virtual teaching tools has increased exponentially as has RFH’s commitment to digital literacy, school officials said in a released statement.

RFH has been stressing the necessity of digital literacy for years but has been enhancing its digital education base more recently with Common Sense Education’s research-based digital citizenship resources, the release said. The expanded resources via Common Sense Education will be used in all RFH core classes throughout the 2020-2021 academic year.

The resources come in the form of a free K–12 curriculum offered by Common Sense that is used in classrooms nationwide, translating to more than 65,000 schools and more than 750,000 educators.

They teach students, educators, and parents tangible skills related to internet safety, protecting online reputations and personal privacy, media balance, managing online relationships, and media literacy.

The resources used in the curriculum were culled in collaboration with researchers from Project Zero, led by Howard Gardner at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. They were chosen for their accessibility and relevance and are grounded in the issues students and teachers often face.

“RFH has demonstrated its commitment to taking a whole-community approach to preparing its studentsto think critically and use technology responsibly to learn, create, and participatewhile preparing them for the perils that exist in the online realm, such as plagiarism, loss of privacy, and cyberbullying,” the release said. “With the right support, kids can take ownership of their digital lives, engage with real issues, and change their communities for the better.”

The recognition by Common Sense acknowledges the school’s commitment to creating a culture of digital citizenship.

“We applaud the faculty and staff of Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School for embracing digital citizenship as an important part of their students’ education,” said Liz Kline, vice president of education programs at Common Sense Education. “Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School deserves high praise for giving its students the foundational skills they need to compete and succeed in the 21st-century workplace and participate ethically in society at large.”

“We’re honored to be recognized as a Common Sense school,” RFH Superintendent Debra Gulick said. “By preparing our students to use technology safely and responsibly, we are providing them an opportunity to build lifelong habits to help them succeed in a tech-driven world.”  

To learn more about the criteria RFH met to become recognized as a Common Sense school click here.

— Edited press release from RFH

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