At the East Central Educational Service Center (ECESC), being an intermediary means serving as a catalyst for collaboration and opportunity. Beyond connecting schools, students and employers, ECESC brings people together to solve shared challenges and helps communities create enriching pathways that prepare students for bright futures.
ECESC supports schools in a 14-county area covering 40 school districts in East Central Indiana by offering professional development, consulting services, career coaching, work-based learning and youth apprenticeships. It also gives students the opportunity to take part in hands-on career exploration activities.
Pat Haney, the executive director of ECESC, said, “We like to talk about standing in the gap,” adding that they concentrate on matters that are important but not always urgent.
That philosophy is also evident in ECESC’s communities of practice (COPs), which help school leaders navigate the evolving work-based learning landscape.
For example, there is WBL Spark, a regional network that brings together work-based learning coordinators, counselors and other education leaders to share resources, discuss the challenges they face and learn from each other. The group holds regular meetings, alternating between virtual and in-person.
These COPs have proven especially useful as schools adjust to the new high school diploma requirements and work-based learning policies. ECESC assists school districts in understanding the changes that are emerging, sharing the best practices and obtaining the resources that can help them proceed with confidence.
For Haney, it is not enough to merely help schools fulfill the requirements.
“There’s quite a decision that all of us are facing, namely whether or not we’re adopting a compliance-oriented approach or perhaps taking on a transformation mindset,” he said. “The question is, how can I make use of this situation as a chance to really broaden what we offer students?”
In order to support the 40 school districts in its region, Haney cited the value of partnerships, which can help extend ECESC’s reach and bandwidth.
“We often say that we are at our best when we’re working in partnership with other organizations,” he said.
A key partnership for ECESC is with Eastern Indiana Works, the workforce development board for the area. The two organizations collaborate on career coaching, youth apprenticeships and work-based learning projects, each organization bringing its own strengths to help students and schools.
That same cooperative attitude is present throughout the area. The region intentionally embraced collaboration when it developed the East Central Indiana Talent Collaborative, hosted by Ball State University. Through the Collaborative, ECESC partners with Eastern Indiana Works and Forge ECI, the regional economic development organization. Together, these four organizations comprise the “Core 4,” convening regularly to exchange updates, explore funding opportunities and identify ways to further collaboration along the career continuum. The value of the “Core 4” comes from aligning pre-K-12, adult education and supports, and economic development efforts to move the region forward.
To build such relationships, it must be intentional.
“As in any other relationship,” Haney said, “you have to be very deliberate in sharing the things you’re doing and in locating common natural areas where you can collaborate.”
Through its COPs and network of regional partnerships, ECESC is strengthening the career-connected learning ecosystem in East Central Indiana. By linking together schools, employers and community partners, the organization is helping students develop the awareness, confidence and access they need to find opportunities they might never have realized existed.
Educators and employers can connect with ECESC for work-based learning assistance via the Ascend Intermediary Directory.
