Future Forward Ohio coordinates strategies to facilitate student success

7/18/2022

Want to learn more about how Ohio is using federal funds to help students, especially those who experienced the greatest disruptions to learning, recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic? The Ohio Department of Education introduces Future Forward Ohio, which encompasses the state’s priorities and strategies to address academic recovery and promote student success.

The Future Forward Ohio webpage has descriptions of major initiatives funded with the state portion of federal relief funds and spotlights promising strategies across Ohio using federal funds. To help Ohioans understand the use of emergency funds, a dashboard shows federal funding allocation and spending across districts. The Department updates the dashboard weekly and plans to keep adding spotlights on promising practices. The Department invites educators to share promising practices from their schools and districts by completing this form. 

Future Forward Ohio’s three coordinating strategies to facilitate student success are: Overcoming Obstacles to Learning, Accelerating Learning and Preparing Students for Future Success.  

Overcoming Obstacles to Learning addresses barriers that prevent students from engaging in learning, such as attendance, health, mental health and high-speed internet access. Examples of initiatives under this strategy include: 

• Stay in the Game Network;
• Center of Excellence for Prevention Education; and
• Connectivity Champions.

Accelerating Learning provides increasingly effective opportunities to learn, through programs like after-school and summer programming, tutoring and supporting districts in using high-quality instructional materials. Examples of initiatives include: 

• Afterschool Child Enrichment (ACE) Educational Savings Account Program;
• Summer Learning and Afterschool Opportunities; and
• Statewide Mathematics and Literacy Tutoring. 

Preparing Students for Future Success helps students rediscover their “why” for learning and more smoothly transition to their next stages through career and college connections. Examples of initiatives include:

• P-20 Regional Partnerships Connecting Workforce to Education; and
• Innovative Workforce Incentive Program.