CSEC provides educational programming for adolescents in outpatient chemical dependency treatment. This collaborative effort is between Haven Chemical Health Systems and CSEC with sites in Waconia and Shakopee.

A collaborative effort between Scott and Carver County Services and CSEC provides for chemical health and truancy specialists to work in school districts in Scott and Carver Counties. These specialists provide intervention and educational services for reducing youth chemical health and truancy related issues.

In recent years, many businesses have come to understand that there are a set of skills, defined as emotional intelligence, that are just as important to employee productivity as traditional academic skills and work experience. At the CSEC, we realize the importance of teaching these social skills to our students, not only as an integral part of each student’s preparation for a productive career, but also because inadequate development of these social skills frequently interferes with the appropriate development of traditional academic skills. Many of the students at the CSEC have struggled in regular educational settings. In some instances, the student’s struggles may have resulted from a combination of the student’s temperament and the influence of significant unresolved life events the student has experienced. Such circumstances can lead to students becoming stuck in their emotional development, and then, lacking the social skills that are needed for effective learning, to fall behind in their academic development.

Through a collaborative relationship with the children’s mental health program of Carver and Scott County Community Social Services, the CSEC has co-located experienced therapists within its educational programs. These therapists are available, with the permission of parents, to help assess each student’s developmental history and to identify students who may be stuck in their level of emotional development, and as a result are unable to function effectively in classroom settings. In such instances, the therapist will develop a plan with the parents and the student for appropriate groups and individual therapy sessions to assist the student in mastering the needed social skills. The individualized plan includes the therapists working together with teachers and other CSEC staff to respond consistently to each child’s individual emotional needs throughout the day, in order to promote maximum social development. For students with intense needs around the development of social skills, a full day treatment program is offered within the CSEC program. Once the needed social skills are developed, the necessary academic skills are likely to come more quickly and easily to the student.

CSEC contracts with Carver County to provide social worker case management services in the school setting, to encourage early identification and intervention for children and families expressing mental health and social service needs.

The East Creek Family Center, located in Chaska, is a collaborative effort involving the City of Chaska, the CAP Agency, Carver-Scott Educational Cooperative, Carver County Social Services, and Carver County Community Health Nursing.

East Creek Family Center houses New Beginnings, East Creek Childcare, First Step, and the Early Intervention Program. Additional services being provided at the Family Center include First Street Center Mental Health services,   PERT classes, and Parents Forever (divorce education).

Dunwoody College of Technology and the Custom Training Division are teaming up with the Carver-Scott Educational Cooperative to bring more access to education and training for businesses and industry.  Dunwoody's long tradition of excellence will give businesses an assured quality training experience through Custom Training delivered locally. 

Dunwoody Custom Training not only offers the more traditional technical education, they will design a course or program to meet the specific needs of a business or organization.  From Electrical, Maintenance and HVAC, to Leadership, Supervision, and Process Methods, Dunwoody Custom Training can meet almost any training and development need a company would have. 

Gateway Southwest

In partnership with Dunwoody College of Technology, Gateway is an intensive six-week program giving students the opportunity to improve their academic skills before they enter into a post-secondary program.  Students explore key areas that have proven to be critical to student success:  Technical Math Basics, English Basics, Introduction to Computers, and New Student Seminar.  Along with their course work, students can become familiar with Dunwoody's programs, facilities, staff and faculty members, and other students. 

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The focus of the School Resource Officer is to address crime prevention, through educational programs and accountability, to school age and adult students. The Resource Officer works with school staff and students in teaching the physical, mental and social effects of gangs, violence and chemical use. In addition, the Resource Officer provides a presence within the CSEC school grounds which promotes an atmosphere of security and a deterrent to unlawful behavior.

As a National Lead School for Service-Learning we support schools and other agencies in training teachers on this unique learning methodology. During the 2005-2006 school year, focus will be on professional development and curriculum emphasis and planning to advance the use of service-learning in our schools.

With support from United Way, CSEC has a system for volunteer recruitment, training, and referral.  Currently, community members and college students volunteer time with adult English Language instruction, mentoring pregnant and parenting teens, mentoring high school students in careers, teachers' aides in a variety of settings, and as tutors in after-school homework assistance programs.