Ohio Educational Service Centers and Educational Organizations Partnering to Support Remote Learning In Ohio Schools
We’re excited to announce, along with founding partners Hamilton County Educational Service Center (ESC), Montgomery County ESC, the Educational Service Center of Northeast Ohio and several other regional and national educational organizations, the formation of the Remote Learning Alliance. The goal of the Alliance is to help make the transition to remote learning as easy and robust as possible for Ohio school leaders, teachers, and support personnel.
How We Got Here
On March 12, 2020, Governor Mike DeWine announced the state-required building closures as a response to the COVID-19, and seemingly overnight educators and students had to shift from being in-classroom to remote teaching and learning. This shift has not been easy for anyone, including many parents and caregivers who have been asked to assist in schooling at home.
Shortly after the move to remote learning, ESCs around Ohio heard the concerns and challenges being expressed by our member and non-member districts, individual educators, school leaders, support personnel, parents, and students and committed to forming a collective impact initiative—now known as the Remote Learning Alliance—to support them in the best ways possible.
“From the start, we knew remote teaching and learning would be a challenge for everyone—school leaders, teachers, support staff, and students,” said Dr. Tom Goodney, ESC of Central Ohio Superintendent. “By bringing together the best remote learning experts in Ohio and the nation, we can leverage our collective impact to better support our schools, make this extraordinary change easier for everyone, and continue to provide innovative solutions to better engage and instruct students remotely moving forward.”
How We Move Forward
Since the initial announcement from DeWine, school closures have been extended through the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year. And how teaching and learning will be conducted at the start of next school year still remains uncertain.
The Alliance is exploring how it can support schools in 2020-2021 school year by leveraging new and existing technology, local and national expertise, and current and future public funds and grants.
“No matter what next school year looks like, we know that every school district in Ohio will have unique needs and challenges to overcome with remote learning. What works for one, may not work for another,” said Shannon Cox, MCESC Superintendent . “That’s why we’re partnering with a variety of ESCs and remote learning organizations that all have their own expertise and niche. We are continuing to add more partners to the Alliance to make our service offerings and support more robust.”
More information on the Remote Learning Alliance and be found at www.remotelearningalliance.org.
If your school district is interested in receiving services from the Alliance, or if you’re an educational organization interested in joining the Alliance, please email [email protected].
Remote Learning Alliance Organizations*
Dayton Regional STEM Center
Google Classroom
Graduation Alliance
Hilliard City Schools
iLearn
INFOhio
Modern Teacher
Newsela
ParentSquare
Past Foundation
Quality Matters
SOITA
StartSOLE
ThinkTV
Western Ohio Service Collaborative (WOSC)
WOSU Classroom
*We are continuing to add new partners weekly. Please visit RemoteLearningAlliance.org to see an up-to-date list of partner organizations.