“You Don’t Grow Old when you stop growing you are old” Anonymous
Below are Organizations and Governmental agencies that help Educational Organizations.
Oregon School Boards Association
Founded in 194
The Oregon Department of Education fosters excellence for every learner through innovation, collaboration, leadership, and service to our education partners.
Confederation of Oregon School Administrators
Mission Statement: We develop and support educational leaders to ensure student success.
The Confederation of Oregon School Administrators (COSA) serves and represents more than 2,000 school administrators, managers and executives. COSA was founded in 1974 to give Oregon’s education leaders a united voice in helping to shape public policy, advocate for schools and speak on behalf of students. COSA’s perspective has earned the respect of educators, the Legislature, the Department of Education and other statewide agencies. COSA consistently puts the interests of schools and students ahead of self-interest.
In addition to advocacy, COSA supports and develops educational leaders with unmatched professional development opportunities—including statewide conferences, regional seminars and workshops, and much more — and a variety of exclusive member services. Areas of focus include school finance and legislative services.
A member-driven umbrella organization, COSA is governed by an elected Board of Directors that represents the organization’s four Departments: the Oregon Association of School Executives (OASE), the Oregon Association of Secondary School Administrators (OASSA), the Oregon Elementary School Principals Association (OESPA) and the Oregon Association of Central Office Administrators (OACOA).
Oregon Education Association
The Oregon Education Association (OEA) is a union that represents about 45,000 educators working in pre-kindergarten through grade 12 public schools and community colleges. OEA’s membership includes licensed teachers and specialists, classified/education support professionals (ESPs), community college faculty, retired educators, and student members. OEA members also belong to the 3.2 million members of the National Education Association (NEA).
OEA members are affiliated with Local Associations, which bargain their work contract with support from OEA staff. Local Associations also collaborate with local school districts, community colleges, school boards, and community leaders to provide the basic right of great public education to every student.
The League of Oregon Charter Schools
The Oregon Charter School League History
A 501(c)(3) non-profit Founded in 2001 by Oregon Charter School Developers.
The League of Oregon Charter Schools has been serving charter school developers since 2001 as a 501(c)(3) corporation. William and Kay Lay from Pioneer Youth Corporation are the founders of the Oregon Charter School League. All of the board members have started, worked at, developed and actively supported the charter school reform in the nation. Each board member has a proven track record of tirelessly working to create an education of excellence where all children have free access to school choice. We are here as volunteers to support you in your education endeavors, to answer questions, and create an educational partnership with you helping you to be the best school you can possibly be.
Association for Career and Technical Education
The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) is the largest national education association dedicated to the advancement of education that prepares youth and adults for careers. This area offers information about the history, mission and structure of ACTE, as well as details on our annual awards program.
Oregon Association of Education Service Districts
The Oregon Association of Education Service Districts is a non-profit organization dedicated to support every school district in Oregon in their mission to help every child to succeed. OAESD has 17 member Education Service Districts. Each has its own Board of Directors, a superintendent and a staff dedicated to providing high quality, low cost programs and services to the school districts in their region.
OAESD exists to support each member ESD in their regional work. We work closely with the Oregon Department of Education, the Oregon Confederation of School Administrators, the Oregon School Boards Association, the Oregon Education Association, the Oregon School Employees Association, the Governor’s Office, the Oregon Legislature, etc. We meet monthly to work out issues together, disseminate information, and provide professional development and support. Between meetings, we provide our ESDs with weekly information on current events in the state. We also host both a fall and spring conference for our members.
Oregon Small Schools Association
The Oregon Small Schools Association is a non-profit corporation of the small schools themselves, an entirely separate entity. The Oregon Small Schools Association combined with the Oregon Small High School Consortium effective July 1, 2004. This provided one stronger organization of small schools to ensure our interests are being heard in Salem. The OSSA Board of Directors, elected by member school districts, provides a liaison to all the professional education associations, colleges and universities. Through their work, consideration for small schools is being achieved.
Oregon Education Investment Board
The Oregon Education Investment Board (OEIB) is chaired by Governor John Kitzhaber and was created in 2011 to oversee an effort to build a unified system for investing in and delivering public education from birth to college & career. We envision a system that links all segments of the educational experience together to ensure each student is poised for a promising future.
Education Enterprise Steering Committee
The Oregon Education Enterprise Steering Committee (EESC) came into existence with the passage of HB 3184. The 2005 legislation refined the role of Education Service Districts by identifying four areas in which ESDs must provide regionalized core services to component districts. These four areas are:
— Programs for children with special needs
— Technology support
— School improvement services
— Administrative and support services
Foundations for a Better Oregon
Foundations for a Better Oregon was formed in 2003 by five of Oregon’s leading foundations: The Collins Foundation, The Ford Family Foundation, JELD-WEN Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust and The Oregon Community Foundation. In January 2008, The James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation joined the FBO consortium. FBO is governed by a board of directors, which includes the executive officer of each of the six member foundations, in addition to one representative of each foundation’s board of directors or trustees.
The Chalkboard Project
Launched in early 2004, Chalkboard’s first two years were spent conducting extensive public opinion polling as well as town halls and focus groups. The organization also engaged in extensive research about the state of Oregon’s public schools and national and international best practices. By combining what Oregonians said they wanted for their schools with what research had shown to be successful, Chalkboard developed a 15-point action plan that addressed issues of funding, quality and accountability.
Since the first action plan was developed, Chalkboard has championed bills in the legislature, funded pilot projects, ran grant programs and continued to help create a more informed and engaged public who understand and address the tough choices and trade-offs required to build strong schools.
Open Books Project
About the Open Books Project
The Chalkboard Project began its work in 2004 with an unprecedented level of statewide public opinion research on education. Oregonians had a number of hopes and concerns, including questions about how school dollars were spent. Sixty-five percent of Oregonians said they would have greater confidence in K-12 schools if they could easily find standardized budget information to compare and contrast.
People want to know where their money is going and they want that information in a straightforward manner that is easy to understand. The Open Books Project aims to provide ordinary Oregonians with an open, simple look at where K-12 dollars really go.