Seeds of Literacy to require Ohio residency after pandemic successes strain resources
Even with the continued success of Seeds of Literacy's virtual learning space, some changes are being made to help alleviate strain on staff, students and tutors. Cleveland-based nonprofit Seeds of Literacy, founded in 1997, has been successful in its virtual classroom, which allows students to connect with the outside world via video conferencing platform Zoom. Despite this success, the organization has made changes to alleviate resource strain on staff, students, and tutors. Bonnie Entler, the president and CEO of Seeds, announced that the virtual classroom would require Ohio residency, starting May 1. This does not affect students currently living outside of Ohio who are actively pursuing tutoring help and taking reassessment testing. The change also means out-of-state students considering the program must register for registration, attend an orientation and complete an initial placement assessment. Despite these changes, Seeds of Literary has remained a popular place for students to learn, with 1,778 virtual learning students in Ohio and 423 who live outside state lines.
发表 : 一个月前 经过 Jane Morice, Jane Morice | [email protected], jmorice 在 Tech
CLEVELAND, Ohio – When you think about the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, many words and phrases come to mind, like “social distancing” and “Purell.” Another? “Zoom.”
The undeniable boom of Zoom – the video conferencing platform that allowed for some forms of social contact with the outside world while isolation was widespread – was pivotal in one of the most major successes for Cleveland-based nonprofit Seeds of Literacy: their virtual classroom.
Now, even with the continued success of Seeds’ virtual learning space, some changes are being made to help alleviate strain on staff, students and tutors. On March 12, Bonnie Entler, the president and CEO of Seeds, announced the virtual classroom would require Ohio residency, starting May 1.
However, the new residency requirement does not affect students who currently live outside of Ohio but are actively pursuing tutoring help and taking reassessment testing when required. It also means out-of-state students who were considering the program now only have until May 1 to complete registration, attend an orientation and complete an initial placement assessment.
How did Seeds get to this point in the first place?
The organization, founded in 1997, prides itself on free, easily accessible adult literacy programming. In 2020, Seeds had to shut down its physical classroom spaces – one on the East Side of Cleveland in the city’s Mt. Pleasant neighborhood and the other on the city’s West Side at the corner of W. 25th Street and Clark Avenue – at the onset of the pandemic. Yet employees, students and tutors did not want to press pause on the learning. They had to get creative.
Enter the virtual classroom. Daytime virtual site coordinator Todd Seabrook made the creation of this classroom, run over Zoom, his pet project.
Luckily, Seabrook had already begun migrating course materials into digital forms before the pandemic began. However, digitizing the remainder of the physical coursework, as well as determining a way to best track student progress and success, was a massive undertaking.
“We had to translate the way we operate in person to online, and it wasn’t like most schools,” Seabrook said. “Every student has a different lesson.”
In Seeds’ in-person tutoring model, students have folders in the classroom where they keep packets of their current coursework. Of course, this could not directly translate to an online format. So Seabrook created a version of a digital folder – large spreadsheets that track students’ progress that are still in use now.
Once the virtual learning space was up and running, Seeds employee Katie Kucera, the director of communications, did her best to advertise the virtual classroom. Local students and tutors became aware of the transition, and through Google and, surprisingly, posting information on Reddit, out-of-state – and even international – learners began joining Seeds to complete their high school equivalency or improve their English skills.
Even though the physical, in-person tutoring sites reopened to the public in early 2022, the virtual classroom remains the most popular place for students to learn.
According to Seeds of Literacy, between July 1, 2021 and March 31, 2024 (latest figures available), there have been 1,778 virtual learning students in Ohio and 423 who lived outside state lines. In contrast, during that same time period, there have been 897 students who have received in-person tutoring.
To that point, as of March 31, there are 324 active tutors (in-person and virtual).
Online tutoring “proved to be a lifeline for individuals facing barriers such as transportation challenges, childcare responsibilities, health concerns, and work commitments,” Entler said in the news release announcing the residency change. “The accessibility and flexibility of our virtual offerings have resonated deeply with our community, both near and far.”
About 19% of the students who use the virtual classroom are from out-of-state, according to Seabrook. Additionally, there are 25 tutors who live outside of Ohio who regularly help in the virtual classroom.
However, monitoring milestones for students across state lines is much more difficult for Seeds of Literacy staff.
“For a while it was all right. From a coordinator point of view of helping a student, it is just harder to do out-of-state,” Seabrook said. “From an (out-of-state student’s) point of view, they log in and get a tutor, and it looks like any other person. But on the back end, for us, we’re scrambling. It’s two or three times more work for every out-of-state student.”
For example, if an Ohio student takes an online GED practice test, there is a readily available resource through the state that Seeds staffers use to check their score, Seabrook said. If a student lives elsewhere, a Seeds staffer needs to ask a student for personal computer or website login information to access and then evaluate scores.
In short, while working with out-of-state students has been gratifying, keeping track of their successes has been difficult and inefficient.
Additionally, there is simply too large of a student demand to match the number of tutors, both in-person and virtually.
“We have such a shortage of tutors on a regular basis that now our local students aren’t always able to get the help they need,” Kucera said. “If the local virtual students don’t sign on right away, they might not get a tutor.”
When deciding to require Ohio residency, “we considered numerous factors, including resource allocation, program sustainability, and, most importantly, the needs of our local community. Despite our best efforts, the overwhelming demand for our virtual program has placed significant strain on our volunteer pool, staffing capacity, and financial resources – compromising our ability to deliver the level of support and quality education that our students both expect and deserve,” Entler said in the news release.
Seeds staff has yet to hear any negative feedback from students, whether locally or elsewhere. Kucera recounted how she heard from a graduate from Texas and a tutor based in Michigan that they were disappointed to hear about the change but understood why it was being made.
“I would love to be able to help everyone,” Entler said. “We have a really unique and strong program, and I think that’s why people gravitate towards us. We just don’t have the tutor capacity right now.”
People who are interested in becoming a Seeds of Literacy tutor have a few different pathways. Individuals can attend a one-day in-person tutor training, several of which are held throughout the year. There’s also the opportunity to do a virtual training, similar to the in-person training, as well as a newer option to do a virtual training in modules at the individual’s own pace. The tutor volunteer application can be found online.
Editor’s note: Reporter Jane Morice is a weekly unpaid volunteer tutor with Seeds of Literacy.
话题: Coronavirus