Education Service Center, Region 2

Target demographics: Since 1967, the Education Service Center, Region 2 (ESC-2) has provided quality services to public school districts in the Coastal Bend. The ESC-2 is one of 20 service centers that serve the instructional and operational needs of Texas schools. Operating under the auspices of the Texas Education Agency, ESC-2 is accountable at the regional level to its main clientele, the school districts and charter schools in the Coastal Bend. The primary focus of ESC-2 is student achievement, which we impact by offering educators a wide array of high quality professional development and instructional services. We also provide programs and support to maximize efficiency of school operations. To ensure success ESC-2 employs a highly motivated and qualified staff of experienced educators to provide needs-based programs for schools, early childhood programs, and community projects.

Direct beneficiaries per year: ESC-2 delivers training and consulting assistance to 42 school districts and 7 charter schools that serve 104,450 students and employ 14,966 total school staff. These schools are located in 11 South Texas counties and include Aransas, Bee, Brooks, Duval, Kenedy, Kleberg Live Oak, McMullen, Nueces, Jim Wells, and San Patricio counties

Geographic areas served: ESC-2 promotes educational excellence for all students throughout our region and state. Every district within the region is provided both instructional and non-instructional assistance. State and local initiatives are promoted and implemented within the region. The primary focus of our organization is student achievement, and we impact student achievement by offering relevant professional development for teachers, administrators, school board members, parents, and other clientele.

Programs: Primarily, ESC-2 delivers training and consulting assistance to K-12 schools over a wide range of service areas to enhance the education provided to students at the local level. This includes providing in-depth professional development and cultivating data-driven initiatives to ensure all schools satisfy federal and state requirements so that educators can focus on teaching. To help sustain initiatives that increase achievement in schools ESC-2 gathers customer feedback to ensure that services continually meet the needs of this region. This feedback includes annual evaluation instruments, including surveys of every workshop conducted, and feedback from various advisory groups. Analysis of this data allows ESC-2 staff to develop and provide training, technical assistance, and innovative programs and services customized to meet an individual school’s needs. ESC-2 has also furthered our use of action research by piloting new programs that require the continuous examination of school and regional data and maintain an open dialogue with all stakeholders in the Coastal Bend.