The State of Indiana has divided the State into nine regions with one Service Center in each region.
Each Service Center provides a vast amount of time and resources to all of the participating schools located
within a specific region. Areas of service include:
- Cooperative Purchasing
- Technology Assistance
- Staff Development
Even though the services provided to each participating school may differ, the collaborative efforts
are at the essence of the programs provided by all of the Educational Service Centers across the State.
The collaboration provided is multi-phased as it happens among the Service Centers,
among the member schools of a single Center, and among member schools of more than one Center.
Region 8 ESC provides numerous examples of collaborative efforts. Region 8 ESC serves schools in fifteen counties.
There are 35 public school corporations and 11 private schools enrolling approximately
96,000 students. Different schools/districts have different needs and yet some have the same needs.
Region 8 ESC attempts to meet the needs of all schools and one area of collaboration has and is still functioning
today is the Substitute Employee Management System (SEMS), and represents how the Region 8 ESC
can facilitate these collaborative efforts.
Schools across the State of Indiana are able to purchase a vast amount of supplies at reduced
costs because of the collaboration of the Educational Service Centers. This is not only true of supplies,
but in many instances equipment as well. Evidence of sound programs and strong cooperative purchasing
efforts among the school districts has led to considerable value added to the financial structure of each participating district.
All of the Educational Service Centers continue to strive to find better ways to serve the various
school districts in their region and around the State.
