Common Sense, the national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping kids and families thrive in a world of media and technology, has recognized Centralia Elementary School District as a Common Sense District.
Centralia Elementary School District (CESD) has demonstrated its commitment to taking a whole-community approach to preparing its students to think critically and use technology responsibly to learn, create and participate, while preparing them for the perils that exist in the online realm, such as plagiarism, loss of privacy, and cyberbullying. 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 acknowledges the District’s commitment to creating a culture of digital citizenship. CESD is one of fewer than 150 districts in the country to earn this honor, teaching digital citizenship in 100% of our schools.
“We applaud the faculty and staff of Centralia Elementary School District for embracing digital citizenship as an important part of their students’ education,” said Liz Kline, Vice President of Education Programs at Common Sense Education. “Centralia Elementary Schools deserve high praise for giving its students the foundational skills needed to compete and succeed in the 21st-century workplace and participate ethically in society at large.”
Centralia has been using Common Sense Education’s innovative and research-based digital citizenship resources, which were created in collaboration with researchers from Project Zero, led by Howard Gardner at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and are grounded in the real issues students and teachers face. The resources 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 free K-12 curriculum is used in classrooms across all 50 states, in more than 65,000 schools by more than 750,000 educators.
“We’re honored to be recognized as a Common Sense District,” said Norma E. Martinez, Centralia Elementary School District Superintendent. “Due to the devoted work of our District Technology Teachers Gina Hickerson and CarlottaRhea Clark, also known as the INIT Team, they, along with each teacher within our district and the Common Sense program, have better prepared our students to use technology safely and responsibly. Centralia is driven to provide our scholars’ opportunities to build lifelong habits that will help them succeed safely in a tech-driven world.”
For more information about Centralia Elementary School District, go to cesd.us. To learn more about the criteria Centralia met to become recognized as a Common Sense District, visit CommonSense.org/education/recognition.
