JASM Consulting/Ocean City school district administrators and staff accept the Lighthouse District designation at the N.J. Department of Education conference.
The Ocean City School District has been designated a Lighthouse District, the New Jersey Department of Education announced Wednesday, July 28.
The Lighthouse District Initiative was created by the New Jersey Department of Education to recognize districts that have demonstrated measurable progress across diverse groups of learners.
Ocean City High School accepts students from Longport in a sending-receiving relationship and from Margate though its school choice program.
Lighthouse Districts show strong improvement because they use data to individualize support for their students and school communities. The initiative also helps to elevate and empower voices of experts in the field to strengthen teaching, leading and learning in all classrooms across New Jersey, according to a press release.
The Ocean City School District was chosen as a Lighthouse District based on its development and institution of diverse district-wide programs that focus on infusing equity and addressing the achievement/opportunity gap, student mental health and wellness initiatives, building foundational academic skills for equitable access to coursework, and for its ability to tell students’ stories through data, the release said.
“We are thrilled to have been selected as a Lighthouse District in the State of New Jersey,” Superintendent Kathleen Taylor said. “I am proud to celebrate the work of the community of educators who support students each day. I am most fortunate to be working with such an outstanding leadership team and faculty, who strive every day to ensure that we scaffold our work to best address the needs of our students in meeting and exceeding our high expectations for them.”
Lighthouse District teachers are provided with structured professional learning experiences to further the district’s quest for continuous improvement. These experiences will include diversity, equity, and inclusion training. This will give the district the opportunity to participate in mentoring with staff from other districts and share instructional practices with other Lighthouse Districts, according to the release.
