The Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT) was a community/charter school based in Columbus, Ohio, United States. It was sponsored by the Lucas County Educational Service Center of Lake Erie West (ESCLEW) in Toledo, in accordance with chapter 3314 of the Ohio Revised Code.
Students performed their work either via computers which they already owned, or which were supplied to them by the school. Work was performed online via secure intranet connections.
History
ECOT Day In the Life 1 -
ECOT was founded in 2000 by William "Bill" Lager, under an agreement with the Lucas County Educational Service Center; and it is managed by his company, Altair Learning Management.
In 2016, ECOT had the highest rate of students who dropped out (or failed to complete the school in four years) of any high school in the United States.
Closure and Aftermath
Due to these proceedings, the families of the 10,000 to 15,000 students at ECOT at the time were forced to find another school in the middle of the school year. ECOT's final hearing will be in either February or March in the Ohio Supereme Court regarding their lawsuits.
ECOT provided many of their students tablets in which they had the option to use for assignments or, if they wanted, they could use it as their own personal tablet. The tablets contained security apps such as Air Watch that kept the students from going onto or downloading certain things by blocking them from doing so. However, on February 2, 2018, the security apps were able to be manually disabled and/or uninstalled from every ECOT tablet unlike before where they couldn't be turned off or uninstalled. This subsequently removed ECOT security and ECOT in general from every tablet. The fate of the computers are still undetermined as far as what ECOT wants to do with them, but as far as the tablets are concerned, as of February 2, 2018, they are now the personal property of the former ECOT students as ECOT does not control them any longer.
Regulatory status
Under Ohio law, "community schools" are independent public schools that offer school choice to parents, students and teachers. They are accountable to the public by a contract with a sponsor, such as a school district, or the Ohio Department of Education (ODE). In ECOT's case, the school was accountable to ESCLEW and it's publicly elected Board. Community schools cannot charge tuition and must follow all laws pertaining to health, public safety and civil rights.
Students were required to take state-mandated proficiency/achievement tests, and other examinations prescribed by law. Students were also required to pass the Ohio Graduation Test to receive a diploma.
ECOT was not a "home schooling" program. It was a public community school, subject to all the laws and regulations thereof.
Students were expected to put in 25 hours of educational work per week during the school year. This work could be divided between online live sessions and independent or extracurricular activities. The time spent is comparable to the time that students in "brick-and-mortar" schools are also expected to attend. Attendance need not adhere to traditional time conventions however; Affording flexibility to students and families not typically available in traditional educational settings. However, ECOT was unable to demonstrate that the majority of students met this requirement.
Structure
Elementary School K-3rd grades. Jr. High 4-6th grades. Middle School 7th & 8th grades. High school 9-12th grades.
Each school was supervised by its own principal, except in the high school. Due to the number of students that were enrolled, there were 4 principals.
Graduates
The school's first graduation ceremonies were held in the Ohio State House. In later years, larger venues became necessary due to Public Occupancy Limits, and, up until the closure in 2018, were being held at Jerome Schottenstein Center. ECOT typically had the largest graduating classes of any single schools in the United States. ECOT's Class of 2013 included more than 2,500 graduates.
Criticism
While ECOT graduated the largest high school class in the nation (2,371 students in 2016), more students dropped out of ECOT or failed to finish high school within four years than at any other school in the country. In 2014, the graduation rate was under 39%. Lager said that was because many students arrived at the school behind, affected by poverty, special needs and mobility. Fewer students came from low income families than urban schools and three-quarters were white. Without physical classrooms and with high pupil-to-teacher ratios, they could not provide support in person. Guidance counselors carried caseloads of up to 500 students each, and the schoolwide pupil-teacher ratio was 30 to one.
An Ohio Republican state senator said, “When you take on a difficult student, you’re basically saying, ‘We feel that our model can help this child be successful. And if you can’t help them be successful, at some point you have to say your model isn’t working, and if your model is not working, perhaps public dollars shouldn’t be going to pay for it.â€
Critics said that companies that associated with Lager were profitable from government funding, but did not have the delivered value. In fiscal year 2014, ECOT paid companies that associated with Lager nearly $23 million, or 1/5 of its $115 million government revenue.
“The growth has been huge,†said Aaron Churchill, of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. “There are clearly a lot of questions about the quality of the education they’re putting out. I’d be curious to know why parents are selecting it. Aaron Churchill also commented that the graduation rate of ECOT and online schools are not accurately depicted by using the standard ACGR. Provides the example that if student comes to ECOT after 3 years of failing in public high school, they are counted against ECOT. ECOT, according to the State of Ohio has 49.3% of its students deemed as public school drop outs. â€
ECOT spent almost $11 million on communications in 2014, which included advertising. About half of ECOT’s revenue went to employee salaries and benefits, compared with about 80% in traditional districts.
Critics say that ECOT owed its existence to its lavish campaign donations, mostly to Ohio Republicans. Lager, has spent at least $1.13 million on Ohio campaigns in the five years ending 2015.
References
http://edexcellence.net/articles/the-problem-with-graduation-rate-statistics
External links
- "Sending off the class of 2013". ECOT News. Retrieved 2013-06-11.
- The GOP’s Biggest Charter School Experiment Just Imploded Mother Jones magazine article 2018-1-19
