Educational
Service
Unit 7
Annual Report 2014 – 2015
Serving the schools of Boone, Butler, Colfax, Merrick, Nance, Platte and Polk Counties
2657 44th Avenue, Columbus, NE 68601
(402)-564-5753
www.esu7.org
ESU 7 Board of Directors
Leading
Donald Ellison, President, District 12
Richard Stephens, Vice President, District 1
Wendy Rahtz, Secretary, District 2
Jennifer Miller, District 3
Richard Luebbe, District 4
Jack Young District 5
Doug Kluth, District 6
Dan Hoesly District 7
Doug Pauley, District 8
Joyce Baumert, District 9
Bob Norvell, District 10
Terry Fusco, District 11
Professional Services Team
From the Administrator
Educational Service Unit 7 provides educational services to nineteen school districts in a 3,673
square mile area, which includes 12,180 students, 1,004 teachers, 68 principals, and 19
superintendents, in the counties of Boone, Butler, Colfax, Merrick, Nance, Platte and Polk. ESU 7’s
79 employees uphold our mission to provide leadership and services supporting the improvement
of learning and teaching by partnering with school districts. As required by the Nebraska
Department of Education, this annual report provides an opportunity for ESU 7 to communicate
our current status and opportunities provided to our school districts. Thank you for taking time to
review the information contained in this report.
Technology
Dee Condon, Migrant Education Director
Throughout the past year, we have implemented a help desk service to help track trends and
provide faster service to known issues. This service is expensive, however, allows the technology
department to bring on additional staff and increase service speeds (Over 800 tickets processed
last year). Additionally, ESU 7 has begun the process of constructing a data center that will be
utilized by schools to provide redundant offsite services.
Marci Ostmeyer, Professional Dev. Director
Professional Development
Dan Ellsworth, Network & Information Systems
Coordinator
Assisting ESU 7 schools with all facets of the Continuous Improvement Process is the main focus of
the Professional Development Team. From analyzing data to implementation of strategies, the
PD team guides schools as they address curriculum, instruction and assessment as well as choose
resources.
PD staff works to advise schools with the selection and implementation of an instructional
model. Principal Cluster provides collaboration and training opportunities for leaders. The PD
team members also have a statewide presence for writing the revised Nebraska Math
Standards, creating support documents for the English-Language Arts standards,
Teacher/Principal Evaluation and Marzano Academy IV. We partner with other ESUs to provide
writing training for 4th, 8th and 11th grade teachers as well as an Adolescent Literacy Academy
emphasizing engagement, comprehension and vocabulary. ESU 7 works to support both core
and non-core teachers with collaboration opportunities on all levels. Members of the
department are certified in Marzano’s Art and Science of Teaching and NWEA MAP.
Larianne Polk, Administrator
Darus Mettler, Special Education Director
Otis Pierce, Professional Dev. Coordinator –
Technology Integration
Beth Kabes, Professional Dev. Coordinator,
BlendEd Director – Distance Learning & Media
Barb Friesth, Professional Dev. Coordinator –
Reading
David Perkins, Professional Dev. Coordinator -
Writing
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The Serving
Mission of ESU 7 isSupporting
to provide leadership
and services supporting the improvement
of learning and teaching by partnering with
School Districts.
Leading
Supporting
Distance Learning
Media/Instructional Materials
Migrant Education Program (MEP)
Students in ESU7 area schools are eligible
to partake in courses from outside their
district through distance learning
opportunities. Common courses shared by
and with regional schools range from
English Composition, all levels of Spanish,
Sports Marketing and College Algebra.
During the year, the media department
continued to provide products and services
for the schools in online subscriptions which
include: Visual Thesaurus, WorldBook Online
(Early World of Learning, Kids, Student,
Advanced, Timeline, Discover, Dramatic
Learning, Early Peoples, Inventions and
Discoveries, and Living Green), Learn 360,
NoodleTools, TeachingBooks.net, and the
Film Ideas Financial Literacy Package,
Gale/Cengage databases (Kids InfoBits,
Health and Wellness, InfoTrac NewsStand,
Reseach in Context, and Student Resources
in Context) and Marshall Cavendish
ebooks. These resources provide multiple
opportunities for students to access learning
materials to support their classroom
instruction.
Over the past year, MEP held summer school
programs at five sites with an attendance
totaling over one hundred and fifty migrant
students. MEP also participated in the
Binational Teacher Exchange Program,
where we hosted three teachers from
Mexico at our summer sites. The Columbus
site incorporated distance learning by using.
AmeriCorps volunteers and others from
around the world to worked with our
students. (Still under construction)
In addition to course exchange, area
schools participate in virtual field trips.
These opportunities provide classrooms of
all grades to speak with experts and
content providers from all over the world.
Common VFT experiences range from
NASA, Morrill Hall at the UNL campus,
Henry Doorly Zoo and Hank The Cow Dog.
Schools are using both hardware devices
and software solutions utilizing Internet
networks to make the video conferencing
connections. The ability to make these
connections continues to be easier each
year. The Distance Learning department
continues to search and provide high
quality options for usage.
3
Serving
ESU7 participated in the BlendEd Learning
initiative across Nebraska. The strategies
and concepts related to blended learning
were introduced to teachers. Staff
members supported the teacher efforts in
their implementation.
Title III
The Title III assisted twenty-four consortium
districts in enhancing their instructional
opportunities for limited English Proficient
(LEP) and immigrant students. The topic for
three session of professional development
focused on instructional strategies in
Classroom Instruction that Works for English
Language Learners.
Leading
Carl Perkins Grant
Over the past year, the Carl Perkins
Consortium funded fourteen individual
schools and nine multi-district projects to
promote professional development,
networking and/or purchase of
instructional materials and equipment.
These innovative plans addressed various
topics in all Career Education subjects in
nineteen school districts. The Carl Perkins
Consortium also supports the professional
development of Career Education
teachers through partial funding of
attendance at state conferences and
workshops. Subject specific networking
meetings were held for Career Education
teachers at ESU 7. This allows teachers to
share what they are doing in classes as
well as learn from each other and ESU 7
staff.
Production
2014-2015 was a very busy year for the
Production Department. We printed over
14.3 million copies with color copies
accounting for 227,000 of
those. Lamination, another offered
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Serving
Supporting
service, totaled over 45,000 feet and 114,500 Ellison
Letters were produced!
In July of 2015, the Production Department
purchased a Sharp 950, which prints approximately
95 copies per minute. The previous machine, a
Sharp 850, recently retired, produced over twentyone million copies! The added feature of a GBC
hole punch will save the department time.
Title I
Title I provides supplemental educational assistance
beyond regular classrooms to at-risk students while
helping to ensure that all children meet challenging
state academic standards. In 2014-2015, thirteen
districts were in the ESU 7 Title I Cooperative with six
attendance centers that operate Targeted Assisted
Programs and eleven centers operate school wide
programs. The school wide programs participated in
the state peer review process in 2014-2015. Teachers
develop narratives and collect evidence to support
each component of the school wide rubric, ensuring
compliance with guidance, systemic improvement
and improvement for student achievement. All
programs participate in professional development
three times per year where they share instructional
strategies, parental involvement ideas and receive
Title 1 updates.
Title IIA
All nineteen school districts participate in
the ESU 7 Title IIA Consortium. The purpose
of this federal program is to increase the
academic achievement of all students by
helping schools and districts improve
teacher and principal quality and ensure
that all teachers are highly qualified. The
ESU 7 Title IIA Consortium utilizes funds to
address ESU 7 unit-wide needs.
Special Education Department
The Special Education Department offers
leadership and services to develop
collaboration with our school districts. This
collaboration will lead to successful
implementation of effective programming.
We provide direct of consultative services
in program supervision, speech therapy,
psychology, early childhood, vision,
orientation and mobility, deaf/hard of
hearing, paraprofessionals, Cen7ter,
transition, early development network,
Leading
Serving
Supporting
Psychology
The ESU7 School Psychology Department provides comprehensive
school psychological services to students, schools, and families in
our service area. We strive to help students be successful in all
aspects of development, to include academic achievement,
social skills acquisition, behavioral functioning, and positive social
emotional development.
ESU7 school psychologists collaborate with educators, parents, and
other professionals to create safe, healthy, and supportive learning
environments that strengthen connections between home and
school. We work as partners to increase student achievement by
assessing barriers to learning and determining effective
instructional strategies to improve learning.
The mission of ESU 7 is to provide
leadership and services supporting
the improvement of learning and
teaching.
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Speech & Language Therapy
Improving Learning for Children with Disabilities
•
Speech/Language Services are provided by
certified Speech/Language Pathologists. These
services address the evaluation, consultation,
and intervention for children who may have
speech/language difficulties.
Speech/Language Pathologists also provide
support for children requiring augmentative
communication systems as well as those
demonstrating articulation disorders, voice
problems, and dysfluency. Speech/Language
Pathologists address deficiencies in both oral
and written language to help their students
succeed in the regular education curriculum.
ILCD stands for Improving Learning for Children with
Disabilities, a Nebraska Department of Education
Initiative designed to enhance program
improvement that will result in better outcomes for
children with disabilities. The emphasis is on Results
Driven Accountability that targets three Impact
Areas:
• Improving developmental outcomes and
academic achievement for children with
disabilities
• Improving communication and relationships
among families, schools, communities, and
agencies
Cen7ter
Improving transitions for children
with disabilities
Cen7ter is designed to meet the needs
of students ages 12 to 21 with
developmental disabilities. Cen7ter's
mission is to empower students to use
their strengths to assist in preparing each
individual to gain employment and
independent living skills.
Cen7ter program emphasis is placed on
life skills academics, social skills,
independent living, recreation/leisure,
and prevocational opportunities.
Leading
Serving
Supporting
Assistive Technology Partnership
Autism Department
Early Childhood
Assistive Technology is statewide service that
provides onsite consultations, training, and
other resources to support the appropriate
use of Assistive Technology devices.
Nebraska Assistive Technology Partnership
(ATP) brings to you, www.at4all.com. There
are a number of state agencies, private
businesses, and lending programs and
individuals that list items for sale, giveaway,
demonstration, or loan. This is a website
where educators and families can explore
the assistive technology devices available
for trial, when making purchasing decisions.
The Northeast Regional ASD Network is available
to provide Resources and Training to local school
districts in the areas of:
• Assessment and verification of ASD
• Program planning, including identification
and implementations of appropriate
strategies and interventions for students
with ASD
The Northeast region has a lending library
of books, videos, and other resources that are
available to school districts and parents upon
request. These may be checked out from the
ESU7 Media Department.
Educational services for children birth-3
years are often provided in the home by
personnel trained to work with young
children. Appropriate intervention for
children 3 to 5 years maybe provided in a
variety of settings (i.e. Home, Childcare,
Preschool, etc.). The Early Intervention team
is a group of 15 people and consists of
Speech Pathologists, Early Childhood
Special Education teachers, Vision teacher,
Occupational Therapist, Physical Therapist,
School Psychologist, and Services
Coordinators (birth to 3 years of age).
If we want to lead and serve,
“it is important that we don’t
push or pull them – just walk
with them.”
-Aquarian Conspiracy
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Hearing/Deaf Education
Visual Impairment
Transition
A teacher of the Hearing Impaired provides
deaf education services and/or consultation
for students verified as deaf or hard of
hearing. Our Deaf Educator works with
audiologists to ensure appropriate aural
rehabilitation services to students, families,
and schools.
The ESU7 Vision Team provides resources,
services, and support to prepare children/youth
with visual impairment for success in life through
collaboration with schools, families, and
community agencies. Vision services are
available for students with vision problems by
our certified vision personnel. Services include:
evaluation, consultation, intervention, use of
adaptive equipment, assistive technology,
instruction in Braille, orientation and mobility,
and other skills for accessing the general
curriculum.
Transition services are provided to
prepare students with disabilities to
transition from high school to life after
graduation. ESU 7 provides services to
ESU 7, ESU 6, and part of ESU 8. Districts
are supported through training
opportunities, linkages to agencies and
specialists, and providing student
workshops on transition-related topics.
Leading
The shaded areas represent
services currently being
utilized by schools.
Supporting
ESU 7 Service Matrix
2014-2015
Professional Development as determined from
School Improvement Plans, Implementation of Standards
Including Local Goals/Needs, State Board, Research/Best Practices, Legislative Mandates/Priorities
Service
Staff Development Services (84-002.05A)
Continuous Improvement Process (for accreditation):
* Analyzing Data
* Selecting Goals
* Implementation of Strategies
* Verifying Results
* Implementation of CIP Cycle (Frameworks/AdvancED
Instructional Strategies
* Including BlendEd Instructional Strategies
* Classroom Management
Response to Intervention
Leadership Capacity Building
* Principal Cluster
* Administrator Meetings
* Leadership Retreat
Professional Mentoring:
* Assist in development and implementation
* Support to mentors and mentees
Technology Integration:
* Trainings to integrate technology in the classroom
* Clarity Surveys (Set up collections, assist data analysis)
* School technology integration visits
* Assistance in technology hardware and software planning
* Technology curriculum revision/development
* Tech Integration Specialist program meetings
* Support and training on Blended Learning
* Co-teaching/teaching
Instructional Models:
* Danielson
* Marzano
* Hunter
* Basic ITIP
* District developed models of instruction
Distance Learning for Instruction
* Train best practices for distance and blended instruction
* Enrichment activities to support instruction
Content Knowledge:
* Enhance teacher pedagogy
* Support content area networking opportunities
Curriculum Revision & Alignment:
* Develop and revise curriculum based on standards
* Align vertically and horizontally
Assessment Literacy & Development:
* Develop understand of formative, summative assessments
* Create formative, summative assessments
* Support C4L for instruction
NWEA Training/Support:
* Trainings customized to individual needs of the school.
* Initial trainings for new schools beginning the process
* In-depth training, goal setting and trend analysis
7
Serving
Boone Central
Central City
Clarkson
Columbus
Cross County
David City
East Butler
Fullerton
High Plains
Howells/Dodge
Humphrey
Lakeview
Leigh
Osceola
Palmer
Schuyler
Shelby-Rising
City
St. Edward
Twin River
Boone Central
Central City
Clarkson
Columbus
Cross County
David City
East Butler
Fullerton
High Plains
Howells/Dodge
Humphrey
Lakeview
Leigh
Osceola
Palmer
Schuyler
Shelby-Rising
City
St. Edward
Twin River
Leading
Serving
Supporting
ESU 7 Service Matrix
2014-2015
Professional Development as determined from
School Improvement Plans, Implementation of Standards
Including Local Goals/Needs, State Board, Research/Best Practices, Legislative Mandates/Priorities
Service
Information Literacy:
* Align standards
* Support lesson development for integration
Instructuional Materials Services (84-002.05C)
Media Services:
* Digital resource and access
* Training for access
* Research process support
* integration of resources (WorldBook, Cengage Learning,
Visual Thesaurus)
* Support online research tools to support digital literacy
and digital citizenship (NoodleTools)
Boone Central
Central City
Clarkson
Columbus
Cross County
David City
East Butler
Fullerton
High Plains
Howells/Dodge
Humphrey
Lakeview
Leigh
Osceola
Palmer
Schuyler
Shelby-Rising
City
St. Edward
Twin River
Boone Central
Central City
Clarkson
Columbus
Cross County
David City
East Butler
Fullerton
High Plains
Howells/Dodge
Humphrey
Lakeview
Leigh
Osceola
Palmer
Schuyler
Shelby-Rising
City
St. Edward
Twin River
Boone Central
Central City
Clarkson
Columbus
Cross County
David City
East Butler
Fullerton
High Plains
Howells/Dodge
Humphrey
Lakeview
Leigh
Osceola
Palmer
Schuyler
Shelby-Rising
City
St. Edward
Twin River
* Training for access to online content through Learning
Object Repository for students and teachers (Safari
Montage)
BlendEd Learning:
* Support through resources
* Support a Learning Management System
* Training & instruction on BlendEd Learning Environment
Textbook/Resources Adoption:
* Aid in the process for alignment with standards,
curriculum, and best practices
Principal/Teacher Evaluation:
* Implement a growth model of evaluation-state framework
Technology (002.05B Technology, including distance education services)
Internet Access:
* Support for direct connection to Internet service provider
of their choice
Distance Learning
* Equipment training
* Equipment trouble shooting
* Coordinating course exchange
* Financial support of enrichment activities
Technical Helpdesk Support:
* Backups
* Client computers
* iOS
* IT General/Other
* Lab computers
* Web Filtering
* Email listservs
* Network
* Wireless
* Servers
* Anti-Virus
* User Administration
Offsite Backup Service
Email Service:
* School accounts using esu7.org domain name and filtering
8
Leading
Serving
Supporting
ESU 7 Service Matrix
2014-2015
Professional Development as determined from
School Improvement Plans, Implementation of Standards
Including Local Goals/Needs, State Board, Research/Best Practices, Legislative Mandates/Priorities
Service
LAN Manager Program:
* Trainings and networking for school district point of contact
Web Page Hosting:
* Host district, individual teacher websites, or redirects
E-Rate Filing Consultation
Student Services
Speech Language
Vision
Early Childhood
Psychology
Cen7ter
Resource Coach
Deaf Education
Program Supervision
Grants
Assistive Technolgy Partnerships
Autism Spectrum Disorders
Carl Perkins
Early Learning Connections
Improving Learning for Chidren with Disabilities
Planning Region
Title I A - Reading & Mathematics Support
Title I C - Migrant
Title II A - Teacher & Principal Training & Recruitment
Title III - Immigrant Education Program, LEP
Transition
Other Services
Production
Art Media
AV Repair
Boone Central
Central City
Clarkson
Columbus
Cross County
David City
East Butler
Fullerton
High Plains
Howells/Dodge
Humphrey
Lakeview
Leigh
Osceola
Palmer
Schuyler
Shelby-Rising
City
St. Edward
Twin River
Boone Central
Central City
Clarkson
Columbus
Cross County
David City
East Butler
Fullerton
High Plains
Howells/Dodge
Humphrey
Lakeview
Leigh
Osceola
Palmer
Schuyler
Shelby-Rising
City
St. Edward
Twin River
Boone Central
Central City
Clarkson
Columbus
Cross County
David City
East Butler
Fullerton
High Plains
Howells/Dodge
Humphrey
Lakeview
Leigh
Osceola
Palmer
Schuyler
Shelby-Rising
City
St. Edward
Twin River
Boone Central
Central City
Clarkson
Columbus
Cross County
David City
East Butler
Fullerton
High Plains
Howells/Dodge
Humphrey
Lakeview
Leigh
Osceola
Palmer
Schuyler
Shelby-Rising
City
St. Edward
Twin River
Budget Information
Notice of Nondiscrimination can be found on
the ESU 7 website at www.esu7.org in Policy
1.17:Compliance with Section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973.