Apple Distinguished School

Skowhegan, Maine, Feb 5, 2008 – Skowhegan Area Middle School is pleased to announce that it has been named an Apple Distinguished School for its outstanding integration of technology in providing a rich learning environment for all students. The Apple Distinguished School designation is reserved for schools that have implemented a 21st century vision of education using Apple technology.  

“Now that we have had this program for the past six years, change has been drastic. As I look around, I see students and teachers engaged in technology all over the board. There is a lot more interaction between student to student, and student to teacher. They are working together in small groups, so rather than teacher instructed education, a lot of it is student directed education where they are also learning from one another.”

The selection of Skowhegan Middle School as an Apple Distinguished School highlights its successes in enhancing and extending teaching and learning with thoughtful and innovative implementations of technology. Recently the school was awarded a grant from the Rural Schools and Community Trust to help teachers and students work with local town officials and organizations in efforts to revitalize the town. Technology tools provided by the 1:1 MLTI laptop initiative have allowed students to conduct historical research on Skowhegan, communicate with local people and scientific experts involved with the proposed Run of River project, design a website for the local farmers market, and create newscasts and Podcasts highlighting assets of the town. Skowhegan Middle School has been in the forefront of technology integration since the 1980’s when the Technology Classroom concept was implemented. In 2000, every student was provided a laptop as part of the statewide initiative thus enhancing even further  teaching and learning with technology.

Press Contact: Larry Grard
School Representative Laura Richter
Title technology integrationist
Phone1-207-474-3339
Email lrichter@msad54.org

Information about Apple Distinguished School  2007-2008

An Apple Distinguished School is one that has implemented a 21st century vision of education and technology integration in an exemplary way and is willing to share its program with other educators and institutions.

Schools selected as an Apple Distinguished School have demonstrated Apple’s highest vision of a successful 21st century learning environment using mobile computing technology. This manifests itself in visible qualities that Apple espouses as ‘best practices’:

• Visionary leadership;
• An infrastructure (IT) that supports a learning workflow of ‘create-distribute-access;’
• Engaging teaching and learning methods that capitalize on the qualities of today’s students who are mobile, collaborative and creative;
• One-to-one access to mobile computers for all teachers and students;
• Evidence of ongoing professional development;
• A systematic approach and ongoing process for evaluation and assessment of results for education improvement and sustainability.