Partnerships with purpose: A message from Clackamas ESD
Strong schools are vital elements in healthy communities. At Clackamas Education Service District, we are privileged to partner with the 10 public school districts in Clackamas County to ensure we’re providing all children, regardless of zip code, with robust and equitable educational opportunities to help them achieve their life goals. Especially important, we help “fill gaps,” directly supporting some of our highest-need students and families.
We are one of 19 ESDs in Oregon. Our role in the education ecosystem is unique: We exist to support the school districts in our region, providing services that meet collective needs, save money and advance the educational mission of diverse schools small and large, rural and urban. In addition, we are a broad regional resource, offering many services that extend beyond Clackamas County.
Our services constantly evolve to meet the changing needs of our partners. Each year, we create a local service plan to outline how we will deliver on our commitments. The plan is structured around four primary service areas:
- Direct special education screening and services to children and youth ages birth to 21, specializing in highly individualized support for students with complex learning challenges
- Professional development delivery, focused on training, coaching and capacity building for educators, administrators and support staff to improve instructional quality and advance academic achievement
- Student and school support services designed to keep students connected to school, promote safe and inclusive learning environments, and address barriers to attendance and engagement
- Technology supports centered on providing secure, reliable networks, and data management and analysis services to dozens of customers
A full 90% of the money Clackamas ESD receives from the State School Fund benefits our partner school districts in the form of direct services or payments. These so-called resolution services are reviewed and approved annually by local superintendents and school boards, ensuring they reflect the priorities of each community. Many other ESD programs — including all of those that serve preschool children — are supported by state and federal grants, contracts and partnerships, allowing us to extend our impact beyond our core services. We have delineated all services by funding source in this year’s local service plan.
We take our service mission seriously. Along with our many district and community partners, we share an unwavering commitment to ensuring all youth have pathways to success. We are here for you, and for the tens of thousands of Clackamas County children depending on all of us.
In service,
Larry Didway
Superintendent
Linda Brown
Chair, Board of Directors
About the Local Service Plan
All 19 education service districts in Oregon must create and regularly update local service plans that reflect their state-mandated mission to promote equal educational opportunities, and provide programs and services to school districts that are best managed regionally. Clackamas ESD’s annual local service plan is a roadmap to how we serve our 10 partner school districts in Clackamas County. The plan includes services required by state statute, services to all districts adopted by local school board resolutions, and explanations of services provided by contracts, grants and other partnerships.
Any Oregon public school district may use Clackamas ESD services. In addition, non-public schools, colleges and nonprofit agencies may use some services on a cost-reimbursement basis.
Our District Partners
Clackamas ESD develops and implements programs and services in partnership with our regional school districts. Our regular collaborations with superintendents and other district leaders are critical to guiding and modifying our work. Chief Administrators’ Council The Chief Administrators’ Council includes superintendents of all 10 Clackamas County school districts and Clackamas ESD, as well as the president of Clackamas Community College. These leaders meet monthly to collaborate, connect with regional partners, increase shared understanding of current issues and initiatives, and coordinate educational services for our region’s students.
Clackamas ESD service teams providing resolution, contract and/or grant services
Resolution services
Clackamas ESD makes an array of services available to all our partner school districts using State School Fund dollars (money is allocated to us based on regional school districts’ enrollment).
Areas of support include special education, teaching and learning, and technology, as well as some administrative functions. These offerings are referred to as “resolution” services because local school boards must act annually to adopt them via a formal resolution in January or February.
By approving these resolution services in Clackamas ESD’s local service plan, our partner school districts are choosing the K-12 education services they believe are most efficient and cost- effective to deliver regionally using State School Fund allocations.
Grant services
Clackamas ESD provides a number of early childhood, special education, teaching and learning, and student support services and programs that are funded by state and federal grants targeted for specific purposes. These services and programs provide benefits to all of our partner school districts and the children and families they serve, without cost to them. We do, however, occasionally charge modest registration fees for major events sponsored by these grant- funded program teams to recoup event costs.
Contract services
Clackamas ESD offers multiple special education, early childhood, technology and administrative services that are available for purchase by all of our partner school districts, as well as other organizations. Our contract services are self-supporting, paid for by only those who use them. We prioritize service to our Clackamas County partner school districts for offerings with finite capacity (such as enrollment in our Heron Creek Therapeutic Program).
Other services and partnerships
Some of Clackamas ESD’s regional support doesn’t fall into a clear category of a resolution, contract or grant service. In some cases, a single employee doing region-wide work is supported by multiple funding sources. Often, we’re providing value-added services that are either state-mandated or voluntary “add-ons” to regular responsibilities. And in many other cases, we are collaborating with regional and state partners to expand learning opportunities for children of all ages.
Commitment to accountability and continuous improvement
We undertake periodic surveys and direct interviews with partners about the quality and effectiveness of our services. We review results with district partners, and those learnings inform adjustments we make to programs and services, as well as exploration of new services to respond to partners’ needs.
We collect data to determine the impact of services and programs on meeting district, school, classroom and student- level goals. In some cases, goal metrics are set by programs, such as those funded by the federal government; other metrics may be set by the districts receiving our services.
Our early intervention and early childhood special education programs contribute data to an annual state report card that measures progress of children we serve, and indicates how well we meet service metrics. Historically, we consistently meet or surpass all state metrics, and our performance is particularly strong in frequency of our services to children.
We provide ongoing professional development for staff focused on strengthening knowledge and skills that allow us to improve service delivery to children, educators, families and districts.
We contract with an outside accounting firm to undertake an annual financial audit. We consistently receive “unqualified opinions,” free from major findings.
We work hard to maintain competitive pricing for services that in many cases is significantly less than what our partners would pay elsewhere.
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