The Educational Service Agency American Education's Invisible Partner

Education service agencies (ESAs), the middle echelon in the P-12 education structure, serve local school districts and their children in 42 states. Since these agencies work directly with local school districts and their students, they are largely invisible to the general public and, incredibly, not a small number of legislators. Yet ESAs are responsible for the direct or indirect expenditure of billions of dollars and are perhaps the main vehicle for training in-service teachers, administrators, and other staff members throughout the country. In addition, they provide technical assistance for a wide range of management areas such as finance, food service, transportation, purchasing, and technology. This highly researched, well-referenced book, the first ever to document the work of service agencies in America, begins with four chapters that summarize the history and development of service agencies into current times and catalogue the different financing and governance structures under which they function. Three chapters are devoted to descriptions of programs and services offered for students, whether they have special interests or needs. Another chapter deals with ESAs as the lynch pin for partnerships with community agencies, businesses, and other levels of government. The book concludes with two chapters about the growing insistence on accountability for ESAs and a final chapter projects three scenarios about the possible future roles of ESAs in the American education system.

E. Robert Stephens is Director of the Institute for Regional and Rural Studies in Education, Edmond, Oklahoma William G. Keane is Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at Oakland University