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Northwest Educational Service District 189

Mission

Together we can…
promote equity and excellence
through leadership and service.

Vision

To be an indispensable partner
to our region’s school communities.

Values

Responsive customer service.
Open communication.
Regional collaboration.
Flexible teamwork.
Adaptable professional learning.
Positive relationships.

Goals

Provide quality services
that meet our region’s needs.
Prepare students for college,
career, and citizenship.
Foster educator effectiveness
to assure equity and opportunity
for all students.

NWESD trees

From Our Superintendent

On behalf of the Board of Directors and staff of the Northwest Educational Service District 189 (NWESD), I am pleased to submit this annual report for the 2021-2022 school year. During this school year, districts began to slowly return to a greater sense of normalcy in instruction and operations following the darkest days of the pandemic. As your educational partner, NWESD staff embrace our role of providing comprehensive support to districts, schools, educators, students, families, and communities as they respond to the myriad challenges, loss, and opportunities created by nearly two years of disrupted learning.   

The information that follows helps tell the stories of the five counties, 35 school districts, Lummi Nation School, 368 schools, over 10,000 professional educators, and 164,000 students of the NWESD region. There is great cause for celebration and pride in the accomplishments of those educators and young people. There is also much that reminds us of the remaining work ahead to provide greater opportunity, access, and outcomes for all students, families, and communities.   

Those of us who work at educational service districts are fond of saying that “service” is our middle name. There has never been a time that saying has held more truth than these past several years.  As we share the hope of a continued return to normalcy, let us not forget that prior to the pandemic not all students were being optimally served to unlock their potential and promise. Let us together embrace a new normal that recommits each of us to assure that every child, every educator, every family, and every community receives what they need to enjoy success and fulfillment. Please know that all of us at the NWESD maintain our deepest commitment to our educational partners and strive to provide value-added, timely, and equity-driven support through the dozens of programs and services we offer. 

We remain focused each day on fulfilling our vision of being an indispensable partner to our region’s school communities by earning your trust and confidence in all we do. 

Larry Francois


Larry Francois
Superintendent

A Brief History of
Educational Service Districts

Did you know? Educational Service Districts (ESDs) provide a vital link between public schools, private schools, and various state and federal agencies. This includes working closely with the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). In Washington State, there are nine ESDs that support a total of 295 school districts. These nine ESDs comprise the Association of Educational Service Districts (AESD). ESDs are critically necessary in Washington state, providing resources to facilitate the implementation of essential educational services and statewide education initiatives. The ESD structure was established in 1969 by the State Legislature to assure that quality services are available to all public and private schools in their respective service areas.

The NWESD, as part of the Association of Educational Service Districts (AESD), has been actively engaged in supporting schools as they work to safely support staff and students as instructional services proceed remotely and in-person.

The office of the county superintendent was established by the territorial government in the 1850s to oversee public schools in Washington. By the 1900s, there were over 2,600 school districts and 2,900 schools; many of those schools were their own district, making the role of the county superintendent critical in overseeing and administering all these districts.

Over the decades, school districts slowly consolidated the present-day number of 295. As population communication and technology grew, the state education agency – the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) – assumed more of the oversight and regulatory functions of the county superintendents. From 1940-1970 school districts were consolidating, and there were also multiple consolidations of the county of superintendent offices. In the 1960s, most of the regulatory and oversight functions of the county superintendent offices were eliminated. Instead, those offices evolved into primarily service and support roles for the school systems within their regions. In the 1970s, these consolidated county offices were renamed as educational service districts to highlight their service mission, and consolidation of the county offices culminated in the nine statewide ESDs in existence today.

From the 1970s to today, the service mission of ESDs has continued to grow. In addition to supporting OSPI and the State Board of Education in fulfillment of their duties, ESDs’ most important function is to provide equity of opportunity to all of the school districts and the students they serve within their region. Within the NWESD region, that means that we must provide a menu of services and supports that meet the needs of Shaw Island’s 10 students as well as the very different needs of districts like Edmonds and Everett with over 20,000 students. Every ESD has a similar or even broader range of districts to support.

NWESD Demographics

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Students in our region
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Gender X students
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Teachers in our region
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Student Ethnicity*

*2020-2021

Teacher Ethnicity*

*2020-2021

Student Data Enrollment By Program*

*2020-2021

Demographic information courtesy of OSPI’s Data Portal

HIGHLIGHTS

The NWESD links educators and school districts with valuable resources

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NWESD Staff Hired
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Professional Learning Classes and Workshops Offered
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Teachers, Attendees & Participants

New positions added to meet ESD and district needs

The NWESD aspires to be a racially and culturally inclusive staff that reflects the diversity of the communities we serve. We believe this strengthens our organization, stimulates creativity, promotes the exchange of ideas, and enriches staff engagement.

Department: Behavioral Health & Prevention Services

  • Attendance and Reengagement Specialists (3)
  • Comprehensive School Safety Coordinator

Department: Teaching & Learning

  • Migrant Services Coordinator, Family Engagement and Early Learning
  • Career Connected Learning Specialists (2)

Department: Special Programs & Services

  • Migrant Health Nurse

Department: Administration

  • Administrator of Special Projects and Development
  • HR Technician

Top blog posts

MTSS blog post AR
Multi-tiered System of Supports
Girl on stairs
Youth Mental Health First Aid
Student thinking
Getting Students Thinking In Classrooms
happy rock pile
Mental Health Support in Our Schools: Making it Accessible
Girl in front of black board doing math
Social Emotional Learning In Math
Exploring Cultural Capital

Aligning Our Goals & Services

The NWESD has provided school-based behavioral health services through a variety of programs and funding sources for over 30 years. Staff in the Behavioral Health and Prevention Services (BHPS) department have deepened their experience and capacity working within and across districts, schools, programs, and organizations in our region. The BHPS department provides a wide range of mental and behavioral health services including substance use, mental health, suicide prevention, and more, with the goal of keeping students in our region safe, healthy, and prepared for learning.

  • Last year, the NWESD employed four Mental Health Professionals who served six school districts.
  • With a $1.5 million dollar grant from Kaiser Permanente Washington, the BHPS department developed the Project Support Health and Resiliency in Education (SHARE) program in collaboration with the Mount Vernon and Sedro-Woolley school districts.
  • The NWESD has long been an advocate for and participant in Children’s Mental Health initiatives throughout the region. We currently provide mental health services through special projects and offer contract services in this area.
  • Signs of Suicide (SOS) is an evidence-based youth suicide prevention program that has demonstrated an improvement in students’ knowledge and adaptive attitudes about suicide risk and depression. Designed for grades 6-12, SOS teaches students how to identify signs of depression and suicide in themselves and their peers, while providing materials that train school professionals, parents, and communities to recognize at-risk students and take appropriate action.

The NWESD STEM and Career Connect Learning (CCL) Teams have launched several new initiatives to help our region’s teachers inspire and equip students with the skills and tools necessary to compete in a global economy. Below are some of the highlights of their work this past year.

Career Connect Washington Northwest Regional Network (CCW NW):

  • In 2022, CCW NW supported six organizations that secured $1 million in Career Connect Washington grants for career learning programs for NW youth. Recently, they also assisted over 25 businesses and organizations pursuing CCW program funding.
  • Hired two CCL Specialists to connect with businesses, schools, and higher education. The CCL Specialists met with 17 schools, and created a list of 100+ employers for CCL, highlighting apprenticeships and STEM opportunities.

The NW Washington STEM Network:

  • NW Washington STEM Network’s newsletter reaches 550+ contacts for STEM opportunities, grants, and connections. They collaborated with various organizations to provide early numeracy curriculum to professionals, distributing 17k Math Anywhere cards.
  • Supported financial aid completion by collaborating with FuturesNW for 68 events, serving 230 students, and creating 7 Tik-Tok style videos on FAFSA/WASFA with College Success Foundation and Snohomish STEM.
  • NWESD CCL team, CCW NW Network, and NW Washington STEM partnered with EDASC, NCTA, and Skagit Valley College for Skagit Workforce Summit, introducing career connected learning to 90+ attendees. A follow-up workshop with 20+ attendees discussed specific next steps for businesses engaging with K-12 education in Skagit County.
  • NWESD  and OESD CCL Coordinators collaborated to host 4 professional development sessions for directors, school counselors, and administrators on a variety of topics including CTE frameworks, reporting, dual credit, and work-based learning with 80+ district employees from across the state attending.

The NWESD CCL Coordinator and NW Washington STEM Network:

  • Collaborated with Washington STEM to help inform state policy recommendations for closing dual credit gaps. House Bill 1867 established a state-level, cross-sector dual credit dashboard to allow policymakers and practitioners to analyze longitudinal trends in dual credit access, participation, and success.
  • Supported CTE Directors in reviewing CTE dual credit articulations in business and computer science and provided support to add additional articulations in these areas in the future.

In order to implement high-quality, inclusive education for all learners, we must universally design within a multi-tiered system of integrated supports and focus on professional development support of inclusionary practices. By integrating our efforts, we increase the efficiency and effectiveness of resources to better support district staff and improve inclusive education outcomes for all. The NWESD MTSS and IPP coordinators have made notable progress in the past year, and the following outlines some highlights of their work in the NWESD region and across the state.

Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS)

MTSS is a framework designed to proactively address the academic, behavior, and social-emotional needs of all students. In a thriving multi-tiered system of supports, all students – regardless of label – have access to high-quality, grade-level curriculum, alongside tiered, responsive interventions for as long as additional learning is needed. This is accomplished through a district-wide culture of data-based decision-making, team-driven shared leadership, authentic family engagement, and effective implementation of evidence-based supports and strategies. The essential components of MTSS are interrelated, and as the intensity of student need increases, so does the intensity of each component.

MTSS is not about how we organize kids; rather, it is how we organize, unify, and coordinate as educators. 

In a partnership between the ESDs and OSPI, the Washington MTSS team has designed a technical assistance cohort to support participating district leadership teams in their implementation of MTSS. Professional learning and coaching are designed around Washington’s five core components of MTSS: team-driven shared leadership; family, student, and community engagement; the continuum of supports; evidence-based practice; and data-based decision-making.

As of January 2023, 61 districts statewide have participated in the cohort, and six districts in the NWESD region are actively engaged in MTSS implementation coaching with the Regional Implementation Coordinator, Abby Buchanan. Regardless of participation in the cohort, statewide resources are available to all educators: 

Inclusionary Practices Project

In 2019, Washington State was ranked poorly in terms of inclusivity for students with disabilities in general education classrooms. To address this, the State Legislature provided $37 million over four years for professional development support of inclusionary practices. The AESD Network Inclusionary Practices Project (IPP), which includes Washington’s nine Educational Service Districts, partnered with OSPI to provide building-level inclusionary practices support and professional learning at no cost. The project’s goal is to increase school leadership’s capacity to understand, prioritize, and implement systemic and instructional inclusionary practices for all students, especially those with disabilities.

Over 140 schools and districts in Washington have participated in the AESD Network IPP, resulting in improvements in inclusive education.

As of January 2023, the NWESD’s Inclusionary Practices Coordinator is partnering with leaders from several school districts to increase and improve inclusionary practices at the building and district levels. These districts and school partners are implementing staff-wide professional development on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and inclusionary practices to strengthen general education and better meet the needs of diverse learners.

Outcomes of the inclusionary practices work include significant increases in the amount of time students with disabilities spend in general education settings, student attendance and parent/family engagement, assessment scores, student engagement, success with students meeting social emotional standards, and positive shifts in school culture and staff mindset. All district superintendents in the NWESD region are invited to participate in a learning series to better understand inclusionary practices and multi-tiered systems of support as a means to high-quality inclusive education.

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Update

The NWESD is committed to braiding equity across our organization through all aspects of our work.
Below is a report of our progress.

Equity Team Purpose Statement

NWESD supports staff, departments, and our external partners in the development of awareness, knowledge, skills, and advocacy needed to increase equitable outcomes for all scholars.  

 The Equity Team believes equity is characterized by: inclusion, belonging, acceptance, safety, empowerment, caring, support, empathy, respect, resilience, fairness, community, celebrating differences, healing-centered opportunities, and equitable outcomes. 

During the 2021-22 academic year, the Equity Team committed to studying and improving organizational practices with a focus on Systems Improvement, Internal Culture, External Relationships, and Student-Centered Equity.

The NWESD Board of Directors and/or staff have participated in the following projects:

  • Project Pronoun Common Goodness Project
  • The Equity Team shares a monthly summary report to keep staff informed about the team’s progress
  • The DEI Corner, a monthly staff newsletter column focused on updates and awareness topics
  • Several staff attended the PSESD Coaching & Leading for Racial Equity Institute
  • Trauma-Informed Care Training was provided for all NWESD staff

For the 2022-23 academic year, our Equity Team is building on their learning to inform recommendations for implementing actionable strategies which include dedicated resources and capacity to provide ongoing training, equity-focused recruitment, and hiring practices, and reviewing and revising our employee equity and engagement survey.

Our ultimate goal is to make meaningful progress toward a more equitable and inclusive learning environment for all students, staff, and partners.

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) Team Members

Administration: Marie Holloman, Erum Mohiuddin, Larry Francois
Behavioral Health & Prevention Services: Colleen Chan, Heather Huntington
Fiscal: Rose Oliver
NWESD Board Member: Sue Phillips
NWRDC: Doug Hoover, Kathy Bisig
Tech Services: Les Valsquier, Charell Williams
Teaching & Learning: Fredrika Smith, Hillary Thomsen
Special Programs & Services: Andrea Downs, Jennifer Boone, Margeaux Huhsagen (Snohomish Discovery), Tamara Visser (Whatcom Discovery)

Financials

% Total NWESD Revenues $29,936,314

ESD Funding

ESDs (unlike local school districts, which receive the majority of their funding from the state) are largely self-supporting organizations sustained by competitive grants, cooperatives, and fees for service.

“Core” funding – the amount allocated by the state – totals only 3% of NWESD funding. Core funding is based on the number of school districts and the size of the geographic region served.

Core Funding

For every $1 of core funding provided to the NWESD, $33.58 dollars of service is provided for students in our region.

Core funding allocated to the NWESD totaled $865,621 and accounted for approximately 3% of annual revenue sources.

The NWESD core funding allocation was leveraged to provide $29,936,314 in services for students in the region’s 35 school districts and tribal compact schools.

Together We Can…

Thank you for your partnership!

Aerial images of the NWESD facilities and all staff photo provided by Les Valsquier