The Jefferson County Educational Service Center (JCESC) was one of 88 county school districts established in 1914 by the Ohio General Assembly. County school districts were charged with responsibility for elevating the state’s system of education to a proper standard, and the work of county staff was primarily regulatory and compliance-driven. Staff developed courses of study, provided teacher inservice training, and supervised classrooms. In 1995, county school districts were renamed educational service centers, a title that appropriately describes a shift in focus from compliance to service and reflects the current work of ESCs.
Today, JCESC embraces a system-wide culture of service that begins with the leadership of the Governing Board and extends across all licensed and classified staff. In response to constituent needs, JCESC
- provides high quality professional development embedded in the National Staff Development Standards, for district administrators and teachers,
- coordinates collaborative programs for constituent districts to eliminate duplication of human and financial resources,
- participates in interagency collaborative programs across Jefferson and Harrison Counties to provide efficient, cost-effective responses to at-risk student issues,
- collaborates with higher education in leadership initiatives,
- provides collaborative, cost-effective direct services for students with disabilities,
- administers the Virtual Learning Academy, an e-learning program that preserves district student and fiscal bases across the State, Country and Internationally, and
- sponsors the The Jefferson Health Plan, a partially self-funded health insurance program serving more than 250 school districts and political subdivisions
Details of these and numerous other programs and services are available on this website.
Click any topic to learn more about the Jefferson County Educational Service Center.