Digital Learning Curve Online Academy students return to the classroom. BY ELLIE CRESPO, ‘22. GRAPHICS BY DAPHNE BONILLA, ’22.
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ast fall, districts across the country were in a frenzy to rapidly create online-only education programs for their students. After a long summer of uncertainty, the realization that many students would not be able to re-enter the classroom amidst a global pandemic hit school districts. As concerns mounted, digital-only programs were pushed out by schools. These programs proved themselves to be an essential asset for students, their families and teachers during an unprecedented disruption of the typical academic year.
For Upper Arlington, that meant creating Online Academy (OA)—a remote learning option—to accommodate K-12 students who were not comfortable with returning to inperson school. OA started the school year off with 917 students, making it the second largest “building” in the district. Its creation can be credited to Upper Arlington Schools’ Chief Academic Officer Keith Pomeroy, who produced and oversaw the digital education
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program alongside a team of devoted teachers. In a normal academic year, Pomeroy’s responsibilities would include updating curriculums and providing educational departments with additional resources. However, with the need for an online program, his duties shifted dramatically. “We were basically building a school from the ground up… we were creating procedures that didn’t exist before,” Pomeroy said. “Creating attendance procedures, trying to support kids... it was pretty all encompassing. I was fortunate to have a great team of teachers working with me.” Though the idea of an entirely online education system for UA had never been attempted prior to last school year, Pomeroy was not unfamiliar with digital education. “I was the chief technology officer in this district before I became the chief academic officer,” Pomeroy said. “So I have had significant involvement in learning management systems in different aspects of online education for a big portion of my career, but I’ve always kept a foot in the curriculum and
the technology world.” Although this experience helped establish the groundwork for OA, Pomeroy and his team had to adapt to the changing needs of OA students. Within weeks of OA’s launch, students became concerned about the rigor level within their online courses provided by Acellus—the original digital education provider chosen by Pomeroy and his team. “I was only in Online Academy for, if I remember correctly, maybe one or two weeks. But what I noticed is that the level of difficulty that I was expecting from my AP classes was not representative in the online classes,” senior Summer Powell said. “I was just legitimately worried about passing the AP test. You can’t replicate the type of practice that you get in class with a teacher on an online platform.” When parents brought this problem to the district’s attention, Pomeroy and his team took action. “We, as an entire team, did an analysis of what providers were available to us. We did a pretty extensive check of the diversity, equity and
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