Educational Service Unit Standards of Performance and Practice

In February 2018, the Educational Service Unit Coordinating Council (ESUCC) comprised of administrators from each of the 17 ESUs along with representatives from the Staff Development Affiliate, Teaching and Learning with Technology Affiliate, Network Operations Affiliate, ESU Special Education Directors Affiliate and the Nebraska Department of Education engaged in an ESUCC organizational redesign process facilitated by Dr. Susan Leddick. The redesign group identified “Five Bold Action Steps” necessary to enable ESUs to work together effectively, efficiently and equitably to accomplish common goals and deliver high value to the state’s education system.

Five Bold Steps: ESUCC
     1. Develop ESU Standards
     2. Develop joint decision-making parameters
     3. Complete SIMPL inventory
     4. Develop value-add metric
     5. Develop ESUCC Value Proposition

The Coordinating Council appointed a Bold Step 1 ESU Standards committee of representative ESU administrators and affiliate membership to develop a draft set of standards of performance and practice specific to Nebraska’s ESUs. The process included input from the entirety of the ESUCC, the ESU Affiliate leadership as well as the ESU Affiliate membership. During 2020-21, several ESUs piloted the newly created ESU Standards as part of the Continuous Improvement Process. The final draft of the standards was approved by the ESUCC Board on July 28, 2021.