With the polarizing turbulence of last year’s remote learning experience fresh in mind, the East Bay Education Collaborative (EBEC) is now offering enrollment in an established remote learning program from a Maryland-based organization intended for parents who, for a multitude of possible reasons, may wish to keep their children learning from home during the upcoming school year.

The Rhode Island Connections Academy is the newest regional program offered by the larger Connections Academy network of remote learning programs nationwide (its website lists its headquarters as being in Columbia, Md.). Maine and Massachusetts already have their own Connections Academy programs offered through their own education collaboratives.

The program is a tuition-free, online public school program that serves students in K-12. The model is administered through Pearson and is aligned with the Common Core. It utilizes Rhode Island-certified teachers to provide one-to-one, virtual instructional plans based on each individual student and their respective needs. Parents are brought into the fold as “Learning Coaches,” responsible for structuring their child’s school day and staying on top of them to ensure they are completing assignments.

As opposed to charter schools or out-of-district placements, where the home district has to pay to send the student elsewhere, students remain in their home district after enrolling in Rhode Island Connections Academy. Because of this, according to EBEC’s Executive Director Donna Ottaviano, the schools don’t lose any aid through the state funding formula. They do have to pay a fee, she said, but that this expense should be reimbursable through the state.

In fact, Ms. Ottaviano said, the program could potentially open up avenues for school districts to grow their student body by possibly enticing parents who are currently home schooling their children to consider this new, more structured online learning program.

“Once they sign on, they don’t need to do it for a full year,” she said. “For example, we have a lot of districts on the East Bay with a lot of military families. A lot of those kids are home schooled, because the parents reasonably think they’ll only be in a district for one or two years…But this becomes an opportunity for those military families to be a part of the district.”

Although Ms. Ottaviano said that remote learning has been an option for parents for many years — and nobody need reminded of the prevalence of such learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic — she said that this program is a proven model that has been in the remote learning space for 20 years, and would benefit families who deal with complicated health or social situations due to its adaptability.

“I think it would benefit anyone that, for whatever reason, cannot physically be in a school environment. There’s a lot of things going on with kids…Maybe they have a sleeping disorder maybe they’re medically fragile or someone at home is medically fragile so they can’t be around a large group of other people. Maybe there’s a difficult family situation where they’re being moved back and forth between homes, or it’s a group home situation,” she said. “(Connections Academy) is more organized and coordinated. It’s flexible. So if something doesn’t work initially, they can change it or adjust it to meet the needs of whatever district they’re working with.”

Ms. Ottaviano said that there will likely be a learning curve in how districts interact with the program since it is brand-new this year. However, she said in her understanding, the program works through direct collaboration between a specified coordinator and the district’s administrative team to ensure that the lesson plan is satisfactorily fulfilling its requirements.

If a student has specific special needs, like a physical therapy requirement, those duties would still be the responsibility of the home district. However, Ottaviano said that the Connections Academy program is able to handle issues related to IEPs and other specified learning requirements, such as speech therapy.

“All of these people will stay in constant contact with the district,” she said.

Parents curious to learn more about the program should call 800-382-6010 or visit the program website. In order to secure a spot, they must work with their local school district and gain approval.