When he learned his senior year of high school would be happening on a computer, it didn t take long for Jalen Walker to lose the motivation to keep his grades up. I was very behind. I wasn t even bothering to open my computer, said the 18-year-old, who attends Eastmoor Academy High School. I didn t adjust well.
He credits IMPACT Community Action, a South Side nonprofit group that is helping students navigate online schooling, with helping him regain his confidence. Walker has passed online credit-recovery classes to get back on track, and is set to walk across the stage with his classmates at graduation, he said.
Central Ohio school districts work to keep distance learners from falling off grid
Districts handed out technology, enlisted bus drivers and lunch workers to make phone calls, and even went door to door to find the children lost to remote learning. Author: Brittany Bailey Updated: 6:21 PM EST March 10, 2021
Stephanie Martin is a newly retired teacher from Westerville City Schools. But her days of educating are not quite behind her.
“There were some kids who struggled and needed a little extra help, and I saw that last year with my own students, and, because of that, I knew that this upcoming year was going to be really challenging for everyone, and so that’s why we created the Academic Allies group,” Martin said.
Just two months after Carlos Silva Gomez and his mother arrived in the United States from Guatemala, the new life they were creating was turned upside down.
With just a few days notice, 11-year-old Carlos school, Columbus Global Academy, a place for students who are learning English, was ordered to close in March 2020 due to the emerging COVID-19 pandemic. All of his classes moved online.
The North Linden home where he and his mother live with an aunt, uncle and cousins became his classroom.
But Gomez, a sixth-grader, quickly fell behind, his mother, Nora Elizabeth Gomez Godínez, 35, recently recalled through a Spanish-speaking interpreter. Blocked by a language barrier, the family couldn t figure out how to access his classes or get help. And they were frustrated.