ECOT News

ECOT publishes 2008 literary magazine

noreply@blogger.com (ECOTnews) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:14:00 +0000

Each year, ECOT publishes a literary magazine called Keystrokes to showcase the best student writing and visual art at the high school level.

One of the many highlights in the magazine is an award-winning essay by Theresa Conrad of Hamilton, Ohio that was selected as the best overall essay in the statewide Laws of Life Essay Contest.

The magazine is supported by ECOT's administration, language arts department, art education department and communications staff. The magazine represents many hours of hard work and collaboration by students, teachers, staff members and administrators.

Click to view the 2008 edition in PDF format.

The following educators and staff members contributed to the production of the 2008 edition by encouraging students to submit writing to the magazine, editing the submissions, organizing the student writing, selecting student art, or designing and producing the magazine:

Gladys Ashenfelter
Andrea Berg
Vernell Bristow
Kara Bryan
Lynn Darke
Patty DelBoccio
Nancy DeLong
Sharon Gray
Robin Hyde
Nanci Kasten
Eileen Krisak
Kim Moneypenny
Mary Riess
Pam Six
Heather Tester
Heather Townley
Robb Townsend
Christina Stapleton
Suzanne Williams

Enroll Today!

noreply@blogger.com (ECOTnews) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:01:00 +0000

ECOT is enrolling students for the 2008-2009 school year. Classes begin on August 27, 2008.

When deciding to enroll in an Ohio online school, there are some facts you should know:

ECOT is the first and largest e-school in Ohio, and since it opened in 2000, has always been a leader.
ECOT is fully accredited by the Commission on International Trans-Regional Accreditation (CITA) and the North Central Association.
ECOT has graduated more students than any other e-school and continues to provide the most innovative curriculum and technology.
No other e-school has a higher rating on the state report card.
ECOT hires only highly qualified teachers who, when working with caring parents, are the key components to ECOT's success and to the success of its students.

Live Graduation Webcast

noreply@blogger.com (ECOTnews) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 04:00:00 +0000

ECOT holds largest graduation ceremony in its history

ECOT held its 8th annual graduation ceremony at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 31 at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus.

The event was the statewide online charter school’s largest graduation ever, with more than 1,200 students eligible to participate – both in person and from their homes via a unique live event webcast (www.ecotohio.org).

ECOT is Ohio’s largest charter school and the state’s first and largest online school. Since ECOT’s first ceremony at the Statehouse Atrium in 2000, ECOT has outgrown four venues for its graduation ceremonies.

ECOT graduations are unique:

--Students work with their teachers online from their homes, so many students met each other and their teachers for the first time at graduation.

--Graduates travel from every corner of the state to attend the ceremony. If they cannot make the trip to Columbus, families were able to participate by viewing the live webcast of the event from their computers.

The Honorable Gary Cates, the State Senator representing the 4th Senate District, addressed the graduates as this year’s commencement speaker.

Six of the graduates received scholarships or awards during the ceremony:

-- Amanda Merritt of Columbus received the Founder’s Scholarship in honor of ECOT Founder William Lager of Altair Learning Management of Columbus.

-- Aisha Stern of Chauncey received the Ohio Academic Scholarship for academic achievement from the Ohio Board of Regents.

-- Dana Jalanbo of Dayton received the Sponsor’s Scholarship in honor of ECOT’s chartering authority.

-- Yevgenia Bailey of Cuyahoga Falls received the Coann Michael Memorial Scholarship for perseverance in the face of adversity.

-- Brenna Christiansen of Toledo received the Patricia Felts Social Services Scholarship to attend college to pursue an education in the field of social services.

--Nicholas Hodge of Columbus received a special Art Award for being the class’s outstanding art student.

Valedictorian Mark Curto of Columbus led the Pledge of Allegiance to start the ceremony. Seniors Angela Fiscus of Wooster, Aspen Landers of Columbus, Cody Woolever of Thurman, and Tasha Wright of West Chester led their classmates in the traditional turning of the tassel.

ECOT educates over 9,000 statewide students in grades K-12. ECOT’s headquarters is in Columbus, Ohio.

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ECOT wins state championship

noreply@blogger.com (ECOTnews) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 21:34:00 +0000

ECOT's LifeSmarts team won the state championship today in Columbus.

After qualifying for the state competition online, the ECOT team competed against nine other teams and advanced through three rounds of head-to-head competition undefeated to win the title.

The ECOT team is now eligible to compete in the national competition on April 12-15 in Minneapolis, MN. Congratulations to the team and to coach Marilyn Hiestand.

The team (pictured from L to R): Jessica Mowery, Grade 11, Akron; David Simiele, Grade 10, Strongsville; Nickole Pavey, Grade 9, Leesburg; Shabazse Chaney, Grade 10, Cleveland; Brenna Christiansen, Grade 12, Toledo

About LifeSmarts:
LifeSmarts helps students learn about their consumer rights and responsibilities and develop marketplace smarts. Competitions are fun and exciting, but there is so much more to the program. Participants meet new friends, win prizes, have an opportunity to travel to different parts of their state and country, and meet important business, government, consumer and labor leaders. Students work in teams, build communications skills, and hone leadership qualities. LifeSmarts, run as a game-show style competition, is open to all teens in the U.S. in the 9th through 12th grades. Teams of four to five teens compete in district and state matches with the state winners going to the national competition to vie for the national LifeSmarts title. For more info, visit http://www.lifesmarts.org/.

The ECOT LifeSmarts team is sponsored by
Time Warner Cable Business Class.

New ECOT Video

noreply@blogger.com (ECOTnews) — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 16:55:00 +0000

To view ECOT's new promotional video, please click the play button below:

Welcome Back!

noreply@blogger.com (ECOTnews) — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:24:00 +0000

ECOT's first day of class is Wednesday, August 29, 2007. ECOT is still accepting enrollment applications for the 2007-2008 school year. Click here to request an enrollment application.

ECOT accepts enrollment requests for 2007-2008

noreply@blogger.com (ECOTnews) — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 13:27:00 +0000

ECOT is accepting requests for enrollment applications for the 2007-2008 school year.

Join over 8,000 Ohio students who are now being educated online in the state's first and largest online public school.

Click here to request an enrollment application.

2007 Graduation Ceremony & Webcast

noreply@blogger.com (ECOTnews) — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 22:55:00 +0000

The Class of 2007 of the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT) honored and thanked Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted for saving School Choice in Ohio and appearing as its Commencement Speaker.

Husted spoke to an audience of thousands of ECOT graduates, parents and friends as they participated in the seventh annual ECOT Commencement, which was webcast live from the Germain Amphitheater in Columbus. Over 885 students were eligible to participate in the event.

Click here to view a webcast of the ceremony!

Husted became the first person in history to become an Honorary Graduate of ECOT – America’s largest e-school with more than 8,000 enrolled. Husted accepted an honorary diploma and a special commemorative “thank you” book signed by all students, parents and teachers attending.

“Without Speaker Jon Husted, we may not be having our commencement here today, and the ECOT revolution in e-learning in Ohio may have ended,” said ECOT Founder William Lager, who recalled Husted’s accomplishments for e-learning and charter schools since his election to the House in 2000.

“The Speaker is not just your commencement speaker. He is truly the champion of the Class of 2007 and the champion of all charter school students in Ohio.”

Superintendent Jeffrey Forster said ECOT students and staff also thanked the Speaker with “excellent academic progress” in the past few years. He announced that ECOT’s testing attendance in 2007 would meet federal AYP standards for the first time with an average of more than 96 percent attendance by students in all federal categories.

“This is a tremendous accomplishment for a statewide e-school with students and teachers, who must travel to more than a hundred testing sites scattered across the state,” Forster said. “This is a first for ECOT.”

He also recalled that ECOT students jumped two steps on the state Report Card in 2006 to Continuous Improvement. ECOT student progress in two years on the State Performance Index was the third highest among all Ohio schools for 2006.

Five of the graduates received scholarship awards during the ceremony:

-- Caroline Perucci of Marietta received the Founder’s Scholarship in honor of ECOT Founder William Lager of Altair Learning Management of Columbus.

-- Christina Bush of Delaware received the Ohio Academic Scholarship for academic achievement from the Ohio Board of Regents.

-- Matthew L. Smith from Canton received the Sponsor’s Scholarship in honor of ECOT’s chartering authority.

-- Christine Alspach of Columbus received the Coann Michael Memorial Scholarship for perseverance in the face of adversity.

Senior Anthony Grigsby of Dayton led the Pledge of Allegiance to start the ceremony. Seniors Kirsten Boyer of Miamisburg, Lynsey Butterworth of Columbus and Zachary Whetzel of London led their classmates in the traditional turning of the tassel.

As in past years, the ECOT ceremony today was hardly the typical commencement with a lot of teary good-byes to classmates. Instead, many of the graduating seniors greeted each other, their teachers and administrators for the first time. ECOT students spend most of their time learning in their homes and communities throughout Ohio, assisted by ECOT computers and teachers who are also home-based. ECOT currently has over 8,000 students in grades K-12.

Seven years ago, Lager conceived and founded ECOT as Ohio’s first statewide e-school for K-12. He and ECOT Board of Directors secured a charter from the Lucas County Educational Service Center.

ECOT earns international accreditation

noreply@blogger.com (ECOTnews) — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 20:32:00 +0000

The Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT) can now add “international accreditation” to its list of academic accomplishments in 2006.

An alliance of the largest American accrediting associations has concluded that ECOT “has demonstrated to the international academic community that it effectively advances the quality of the educational experiences it provides for its students.”

Earlier this year, ECOT jumped two categories on the State Report Card to the “Continuous Improvement” rating and had the third highest gain in two years of all Ohio schools on the Performance Index, the state’s measure of academic growth for schools.

ECOT successfully completed the required steps for accreditation by CITA (Commission on International and Trans-Regional Accreditation), which include: initial registration, a CITA candidacy visit, a rigorous self-study, a site visit by CITA’s evaluation team and an intensive review by the CITA staff and Board of Directors.

Accreditation has been a goal of Superintendent Jeffrey Forster since he first joined the school in 2001.

“In 2001, the goal seemed a long way off,” Forster said. “This accomplishment demonstrates that the six years of hard work by our teachers and staff have now paid off."

Based in Columbus, ECOT is the first and largest e-school in Ohio and educates over 7,000 students statewide. The school is recognized as one of the nation's leaders in online education.

About CITA: The Commission of International and Trans-Regional Accreditation (CITA) is the most rapidly growing accrediting agency in the world. It was created in 1996 by five USA regional associations that accredit schools and universities.

CITA provides customized accreditation protocols and standards for schools that cross the USA regions and for national and international schools around the world. On the web: www.citaschools.org

The CITA Alliance includes:
• North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA CASI)
• Middle States Commission on Elementary Schools (CES MSA)
• Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS CASI)
• Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC-ACS)
• National Council for Private Schools Accreditation (NCPSA)
• Council on Occupational Education (COE)

ECOT art exhibit at Ohio Department of Education

noreply@blogger.com (ECOTnews) — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 15:39:00 +0000

Over 90 pieces of art created by over 40 ECOT student artists are being exhibited at the Ohio Department of Education building (25 S. Front St.) in downtown Columbus from December 1-29, 2006.

ECOT was selected to be the featured school for the month of December as part of the Ohio Department of Education's Student Art Exhibition Program. Art teacher Patricia Younce, who leads ECOT's art department, believes that such opportunities for public recognition are valuable to the growth of ECOT's talented student artists.

Gallery tours are private and need to be scheduled in advance. To schedule a tour, contact Curator Molly Uline-Olmstead at ODE by e-mail (molly.uline-olmstead@ode.state.oh.us).

For more photos of the show, go to ODE's Education Blog by clicking here.

New ECOT Regional Education Centers

noreply@blogger.com (ECOTnews) — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 14:30:00 +0000

The Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT) is pleased to announce the opening of Regional Education Centers (R.E.C.) in three areas in Ohio: Cleveland, Dayton, and Columbus.

These centers offer orientation training sessions for new students that include how to use ECOT curriculum websites, contact teachers, submit work, take tests and operate the computer or resolve technical issues.

Plus, the Regional Education Centers offer students, parents, and teachers with opportunities to interact through workshops, class activities, tutorial sessions, test preparation, field trips, enrichment, counseling, and career development.

Cleveland REC
3705 Lee Rd.
Shaker Heights, OH 44120
Contact: Danielle Hier, 888-326-8395, ext. 3440

Columbus REC
3700 S. High Street, Suite 90
Columbus, OH 43207
Contact: Richard Noble, 888-326-8395, ext. 3609

Dayton REC
1133 S. Edwin C. Moses Drive
Dayton, OH 45408
Contact: Yyvette Beach, 888-326-8395, ext. 3425

ECOT accepts enrollment requests for 2006-2007; holds Open Houses

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Berry) — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 06:09:00 +0000

ECOT is now accepting requests for enrollment applications for the 2006-2007 school year. Please click here to request an application.

ECOT is also holding open houses for both current parents and students and parents and students who are interested in enrolling in ECOT.

All ECOT teachers will be available to meet/greet at the Columbus Open House only. All other locations will feature administrators and teachers who live in those areas.

Dates and Locations:

August 8, 2006, 4-8 p.m.
Toledo:
Holiday Inn/French Quarter
10630 Fremont Pike
Perrysburg, OH 43551

August 14, 2006, 4-8 p.m.
Cleveland/Akron:
Hilton/Beachwood
3663 Park East Dr
Beachwood, OH 44122 August 17, 2006, 4-8 p.m.
Cincinnati/Dayton:
Kings Island Resort
5691 Kings Island Dr
Mason, OH 45040-9665.

August 25, 2006, 4:30-8:30 p.m.
Columbus:
Holiday Inn/Worthington
175 Hutchinson Ave
Columbus OH 43235

ECOT celebrates e-learning with annual commencement webcast

noreply@blogger.com (Teresa Berry) — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 06:07:00 +0000

he Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT) and its "Class of 2006" are celebrating e-learning that works for students throughout Ohio.

More than 1,000 ECOT seniors from all over the state will participate in the 2006 graduation ceremony Saturday and hear Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro give the commencement address.

They will also hear Superintendent Jeff Forster announce that March testing results will help ECOT move up one step on the State Report Card with an unprecedented testing participation rate of 94 percent, according to Forster.

“We are very proud of our students, teachers and staff for their ongoing efforts to improve academic performance,“ Forster said. “Our calculations show we have tripled the number of points we needed for two years on the state’s Performance Index to move up to Academic Watch by a wide margin. Given our student population profile, this achievement is comparable to Cleveland, Columbus or some other large urban district moving up to 'Watch' on the Report Card.”

“Celebrating E-learning” is the theme of commencement for the largest-ever Class of 2006. ECOT is Ohio’s first, largest and most innovative e-school with a student enrollment of 7,400. More than 2,000 students have graduated since ECOT’s first commencement in 2001. The 1,000 grads this year will participate in person at the Germain Amphitheatre or at home via live web cast.

“Our growing number of graduates and our progress on the State Report Card means that ECOT is demonstrating that e-learning works for many students, including Ohio’s at-risk students and those who have trouble succeeding for many reasons in a traditional bricks-and-mortar setting,” Forster said.

Among the Class of 2006 grads are four valedictorians with 4.0 grade averages and 20 “charter member” students, who have been with ECOT since its founding in 2000. Most of the “charter member” students began as seventh graders, but valedictorian Michelle Kebhart of Lake County, who will speak to her classmates Saturday, started with ECOT as a six-grader and finished on an accelerated program.

Introducing Attorney General Petro will be ECOT Board President Jack McKenna of Columbus.

Leading the diploma presentation will be High School Principal Brent Dearbaugh of Columbus and Founder William Lager of Columbus, CEO of Altair Learning Management Inc. and a leading pioneer of e-learning in Ohio and the nation. Master of Ceremonies will be Altair Chief of Staff James Thomas of Columbus.

Four scholarships will be awarded to deserving seniors by ECOT Executive Director of Education Jack Culp of Columbus and Jim George of Lucas County Educational Service Center, the sponsor of ECOT since it began.

ECOT has about 7,400 students and 250 highly qualified teachers working with each other online from their homes throughout Ohio. Founded in 2000 as Ohio’s first e-school, ECOT is based in Columbus.