The Initial Educational Staff Associate (ESA) course is intended for health professionals to transition to public school service. This includes current or soon-to-be nurses, social workers, speech-language pathologists, physical therapists, and occupational therapists among others. This course satisfies the Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB) requirement of 15 clock hours/one semester of course work required as one piece of obtaining the Initial ESA Certification requirements in Washington State for School health specialists as detailed on the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) website. Please visit the OSPI website for further information about ESA requirements for your specialty.
This course is an online course, administered through Canvas. Participants should have continuous, reliable internet access and be proficient in utilizing online technology. Participants are not required to be at the computer at a specific time. The course is broken into four modules, each of which has content to be completed by the assigned deadlines.
Certification requirements and ESA application questions should be directed to OSPI. We provide the ESA course requirement only, we cannot answer questions regarding the certification or application requirements.
The Puget Sound Educational Service District (PSESD) also offers this course a few times a year via Zoom. Please visit the PSESD website for more information.
2023-2024 Tentative Schedule Below:
Fall 2023 ESA - Registration is now closed. Please consider one of our other upcoming classes below!
Winter 2024 ESA
This course runs: Monday, January 22 - Friday, March 1, 2024
Registration will be available November 20 - December 29, 2023
https://www.pdenroller.org/newesd101/catalog/156625
Spring 2024 ESA
This course runs: Monday, April 15 - Friday, May 24, 2024
Registration will be available February 26 - March 29, 2024
https://www.pdenroller.org/newesd101/catalog/156627
Summer 2024 ESA
This course runs: Monday, June 17 - Friday, July 26, 2024
Registration will be available April 29 - May 31, 2024
https://www.pdenroller.org/newesd101/catalog/156627