Celebrating 50 Years!

To mark our milestone anniversary, explore our special blog series, “Looking Back,” and discover how we’ve dedicated ourselves to supporting students and communities throughout the years.

Everyone is a Learner

We are a non-profit educational service agency, committed to reaching and educating learners of all ages, and experienced in working with educators to help students learn and succeed.

We know that everyone is a learner from the day they are born, and we know how to create classrooms and other environments in which every learner can flourish. We know how to reach, inspire, support and educate children, youth and adults, and we help others to do the same.

Professional Development

CES Professional Development helps districts, schools, and individuals improve educator and student performance with open enrollment events, tailored site-based learning, Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), coaching, and consulting.

Consulting at CES

First, we listen. CES provides services that build school, district, and educator capacity to support the use of effective, research-based instructional practices to engage and motivate learners of all kinds. We also work with communities, community organizations, and others to provide expertise, evaluation, and advisory services.

Children, Youth, and Families

CES offers direct, cost-effective, quality services and programs for vulnerable children, youth and families. Birth – 22 Programs at CES include educational and learning programs provided directly to students and children that address gaps for students with unique needs. CES also provides resources, teaching, evaluation and assistance to parents and families.

Business Services

CES provides a variety of cost-effective business services to districts, schools, community organizations, municipalities, and businesses. Special member pricing is typically available for these services for clients in CES member districts.

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Find Events and Courses

Browse and register for professional development, conferences, and graduate level and licensure preparation courses.

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Find Careers

CES is always growing! The CES workforce includes an average of over 800 staff members across our programs. Take a look at our many openings across the state, in our most exciting program areas.

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Explore our Expertise

CES consultants work with schools and districts, educators, and community organizations, as well as private industry. View our areas of focus and learn how our experience can benefit you.

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Learn How We Support Students

In western Massachusetts and statewide, CES manages programs and services that focus on the educational, social-emotional, and health needs of children and youth

What We Do

The Collaborative for Educational Services (CES) is a public nonprofit, educational service agency that offers direct and support services to its 37 member school districts and to various state and district-level clients across New England. The work of CES divides roughly into three areas: a range of direct services for children and youth particularly those at risk; professional development and training for educators and professionals; and consulting services including community health, research and evaluation, and business services for districts, schools, and community organizations.

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Students are at the heart of our work

Founded in 1974, we are a Massachusetts educational collaborative governed by representatives from our 37-member school districts in Hampshire and Franklin Counties. We work with children, youth, and adult learners; families; schools, districts, and educators; and community members in the Pioneer Valley and across Massachusetts to create and improve educational opportunities both in and out of the classroom and ensure that every child has the opportunity to achieve their full potential. We are a community of innovative and effective professionals dedicated to improving education.

Our Mission

The mission of the Collaborative for Educational Services is to develop and foster lifelong learning and to provide opportunities for wellbeing for all of the communities we work with, through collaboration and leadership.

Our Vision

We envision a society with equitable communities, led by the people within them. We envision a learning system within and deeply connected to those communities, which centers the histories and cultural identities of Black, Indigenous, People of color, and other marginalized groups, and supports all children and young people to discover their gifts and move boldly towards their futures.

Orange box with the following text: 6,000+ individuals received direct service from CES programs
Orange box with the following text: 5,644+ Educators participated in CES professional development.
Orange box with the following text: 164 consulting contracts.

Social Justice and Equity is critical to our mission, reflected in our organization’s Values

A Culture of Community and Care: We will look out for and support each other, celebrate each other’s successes and grieve each other’s losses. We will live out an ethic of community care, learn from mistakes, and be challenged to do better. We will foster speech and discourse, formal and informal, that promotes equity, justice, and understanding.

Equity and Inclusion: We will work to eliminate racism and other injustice and oppression, and promote inclusion and equity at CES and in our community by identifying and dismantling all forms of social oppression. Our vision of social justice is intersectional and means working to transform all types of oppression, including racism, ableism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, adultism, ageism, transgender oppression, and religious oppression. 

Self-awareness and Growth: We will continually reflect on our own cultures and identities, and how they relate to or allocate power and privilege; and we will learn about and partner with others to challenge our own biases. We will make a personal commitment to growth toward equity, inclusion, and a community of care; and know that learning happens when we commit to being brave. 

Action and Transformation: We will take action, speak up, and propose solutions when we see oppression or discrimination; knowing that saying nothing means colluding with oppression. We strive to decolonize teaching practices, learning methods, and curricula through the accurate inclusion of the voices of people and cultures most impacted by white-supremacist narratives. We will be willing to make mistakes, and learn from both our mistakes and successes, in order to grow.

 

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CES has been a tremendous resource to our schools. The opportunities you offer for administrators and teachers to gather and share experiences, resources, etc., have been enormously helpful. The workshops have been outstanding.

— Professional Development Participant

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Upcoming Offerings

The Collaborative for Educational Services provides professional development, continuing education, coaching and technical assistance online, in hybrid form, and in person. Our open enrollment courses, workshops, and other learning can also be brought on site to schools, districts and organizations, and customized to meet your organization’s needs. To the right are just a few of our open enrollment, active upcoming offerings. Please click the button below to see more.

Oct 7 2024
ELA Educators PLC

ELA Educators PLC – Fall ’24 – Spring ’25

This professional learning community (PLC) is for anyone who is an ELA educator in a school setting in Massachusetts. This PLC will be a place for English Language Arts educators to share in

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Oct 7 2024
ELA Educators PLC

ELA Educators PLC – Fall ’24 – Spring ’25 with PDPs

This professional learning community (PLC) is for anyone who is an ELA educator in a school setting in Massachusetts. This PLC will be a place for English Language Arts educators to share in

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Oct 8 2024
Bridging to Belonging: Working with Polarization in Schools PLC

Bridging to Belonging: Working with Polarization in Schools PLC – Fall ’24 – Spring ’25 with PDPs

With the upcoming election cycle, the ongoing tensions around what and how we teach in schools today, and the increasing anxieties of young people, we believe it's imperative to create a space

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Oct 8 2024
Bridging to Belonging: Working with Polarization in Schools PLC

Bridging to Belonging: Working with Polarization in Schools PLC – Fall ’24 – Spring ’25

With the upcoming election cycle, the ongoing tensions around what and how we teach in schools today, and the increasing anxieties of young people, we believe it's imperative to create a space

View More Details »

Recent Posts Our Blog

5 Ways to Teach Disability History in Social Studies Class

A few years ago, curriculum specialist Richard Cairn showed a photo from the World War II era to two young men he was working with on a campaign to promote teaching disability history. The image shows a man with multiple disabilities processing airplane parts in an American defense plant. Cairn said the two volunteer ...

DYS Educator Develops Breakfree Project

Congratulations to DYS Educator Bill Laforme of the Kennedy School, who has had his Breakfree project chosen for October’s nationwide Breakfree competition.  Bill was selected in 2023 for a Breakfree Fellowship. Fellows develop their own Breakfree content and this year joined other Fellows in Washington, DC where they collaborated on ...

CES report outlines difficult truth about literacy issues

WINCHESTER - Last year, a report surfaced that alleged Winchester students struggled to read. In response, the district, through Superintendent Dr. Frank Hackett, reached out to the Collaborative for Educational Services, a Northampton-based non-profit, to pull back the curtain and do a deep dive into the district’s practices. Two members of ...
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