Northwest Regional Education Service District
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Built Together: Reflections on Six Years of Strategic Learning and Improvement
When we launched our 2020–25 Strategic Plan (later refreshed and extended through 2026), we could not have anticipated the scale of change the education system would face.
Since 2020, schools and communities have navigated a pandemic, staffing shortages, funding instability, and rapidly evolving student needs. Through all of that, this strategic plan helped anchor our work and sharpen our understanding of the role we want to play in the region.
As we prepare to launch our next strategic plan, we’ve been reflecting not only on what we accomplished, but on how our organization itself has evolved.
Two major shifts stand out.
1. A Cultural Shift Toward Co-Design
Equity Learning Teams
What began as professional learning has increasingly become a way of working.
A eight-member team from Columbia County embarked on a book study this year and have begun applying what they’ve learned and teaching other educators who aren’t part of the equity learning team.
Instructional Services: Then and Now
Rather than designing supports for students, this team has increasingly designed supports with students and educators.
Tualatin High School students and teachers share research-based improvement strategies and gather feedback from multiple perspectives before designing plans for rolling out their work. Photo by Annie Tronco.
Read:
- 9th Grade Success Network Imagines a High School Experience Where Everyone Feels Connected
- Freshman Year Isn’t What It Used to Be — That’s a Good Thing
- 9th Grade Success Network Celebrates Successful Year
The Evolution of CAFE
Eric, center, and Pedro, seniors at Nestucca Valley High School, present about the importance of having community support. “This is what makes us succeed,” Eric says. Photo by Tracey Goldner.
One of the clearest examples of this shift has been the evolution of Cascade Alliance for Equity summit (CAFE).
What began as a conference led primarily by adult equity professionals for educators has evolved into a student-led experience where students design and facilitate equity-centered professional learning for adults.
The result has been powerful. Again and again, educators leave impressed not only by the quality of the content, but by the honesty, insight, and leadership students bring to the conversation.
"I hope all educators have a chance to come to see this,” says Denise Reynolds, an instructional coach in the St. Helens School District.
Read:
- Flipping the Script — Students Take the Reins at this Innovative Conference
- Students Know What Works. Are We Listening?
- At This Educator Conference, Students Are the Teachers
Forest Grove students lead a session about how to expand leadership opportunities for students. Photo by Tracey Goldner.
This shift toward co-design has changed the kinds of questions we ask, whose expertise we center, and how we think about leadership across the organization.
2. A Stronger Sense of Regional Ownership and Accountability
Another important shift has been how we think about our responsibility to outcomes across the region.
Traditionally, ESDs have seen themselves primarily as supporters of district-led improvement efforts — providing tools, services, and partnership where needed.
While partnership remains central to our mission, over time we’ve developed a stronger collective sense of ownership for student outcomes across the region.
That shift is reflected in:
- how teams track and analyze data,
- how we evaluate impact,
- how we communicate progress,
- and how we designed our next strategic plan.
Increasingly, teams are asking:
- “How do we know this is making a difference?” and
- “What responsibility do we share for improving outcomes regionally?”
Highlighting Bright Spots
One example of this mindset is the launch of the What’s Working series, which highlights promising practices and bright spots across districts and schools in the region.
The goal is to create stronger regional learning — helping effective practices travel seamlessly across district boundaries through relationships and shared problem-solving.
Eliazar, a fifth grader at Lewis & Clark Elementary, with his favorite book series: “Dog Man” graphic novels. Eliazar has learned how to speak, read and write in English over the past five years. He arrived at kindergarten in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic but has benefited from science-based reading and writing instruction and data-based interventions. He is now reading at grade level and is teaching his 5-year-old brother how to write his name. Photo by Tracey Goldner.
Read:
- Becoming a Great Reader Doesn’t Happen By Accident
- Far Too Many Students Lag in Reading: Here’s What We’re Doing About It
- School Attendance is a Family Affair
- The Make-or-Break Year: What Happens When Schools Rethink Ninth Grade?
- Watch - REACT: What Mentoring Really Does for New Educators
- Students Dream Big. Our Workforce Development Team Is Building the System to Match.
Brieah works through a math problem with Jackie Theoharis, an instructional assistant, in her freshman algebra class at Neah-Kah-Nie High School. Her transition into high school wasn’t what she expected. “I have tried so many new things,” she says. “And we aren’t even halfway through the year.” Nearly 90% of freshmen at Neah-Kah-Nie are involved with at least one extracurricular activity. Photo by Tracey Goldner.
New teachers are also getting the support they need to stay (and thrive) in the profession through our mentoring programs. We added a special education track this year and 220 novice special educators received mentoring.
Read: No New Educator Should Go It Alone: Mentors Take Educators From Surviving to Thriving
Summer Gann, a special education teacher at Warrenton Grade School, helps her students clean up plastic fruit in the play area of their classroom. “I love doing this job,” she says. “It’s just very involved and has a lot of things to consider.” Providing the type of specialized, hands-on training that new teachers like Summer need is difficult for rural districts, so splitting one person’s time between five districts makes the work possible. State funding through the Educator Advancement Council has enabled NWRESD to offer mentoring using this type of regional model. Photo by Tracey Goldner.
Using Data to Design Better Supports
This shift toward accountability is also visible in the way teams use data internally.
For example, the 9th Grade Success team has developed systems to regularly review outcome data, identify trends, and design supports in response to student needs.
Instead of waiting until senior year, students who are falling behind on credits during freshman year are identified and connected to support so they can make up credits in real time.
Our own social emotional learning schools have implemented robust MTSS systems in recent years and created a culture that prizes and prioritizes data.
“MTSS has become an integral part of how we support student success,” says Cara Olson-Sawyer, principal at Cascade, Columbia and Pacific Academies in Beaverton. This year, educators created individualized math and reading targets for every student.
By the spring, 75% of students met their reading goals and 79% of students had met their math goals.
Gray, a student at Pacific Academy, celebrates their graduation on June 4 with their mom. Pacific Academy is a specialized social emotional learning school located in Beaverton that supports students who are experiencing mental health and behavior challenges. Educators at the school are working to ensure students receive rigorous academic instruction alongside therapeutic support that’s tailored to their needs.
Across programs, there is a growing expectation that we not only provide services, but continuously learn from results and adapt our work accordingly.
Sticky Points and Lessons Learned
Not every priority area moved forward easily.
Several parts of the strategic plan surfaced persistent structural challenges that continue to affect our work today.
Educator Workforce
Regional educator workforce efforts proved especially challenging to sustain.
Funding instability and the pandemic played significant roles, but we also learned important lessons about the complexity of coordinating workforce strategies across multiple school systems and changing regional conditions.
Instructional Coaching
Instructional coaching has also become more difficult as districts have experienced staffing reductions and shifting priorities. In many places, there are fewer instructional coaches available, making regional engagement and sustained collaboration harder to maintain.
Program Instability and Funding Cuts
Other areas experienced significant instability over the life of the plan, including:
- Northwest Outdoor Science School
- Read: Outdoor School Funding
- Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education
- Regional Educator Network
These shifts required teams to continually adapt while maintaining services and relationships.
Looking Forward
As we look toward the next strategic plan, we do so with a clearer understanding of both our strengths and our responsibilities.
This plan helped move us toward deeper partnership, stronger co-design practices, and greater ownership of regional outcomes. It also reminded us that meaningful systems change is rarely linear and always relational.
We are proud of what has been built together over the past six years, and excited for what comes next.