The Columbia Education Center (CEC) is a private educational service organization based in Portland, Oregon. It was established in 1972 for the purpose of providing specialized services and resources to schools and education-related organizations in the Pacific Northwest. Since 1990, CEC has become increasingly involved with agencies in other parts of the United States and in several nations overseas. CEC is incorporated as an Oregon non-profit organization and has been granted not-for-profit status by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (#23-7448442).

While its range of activities is varied, CEC's principal efforts are directed toward communication, dissemination, and staff development projects, frequently those supported financially by federal and private grant programs. During the past years, CEC has designed and successfully conducted staff training, curriculum development, dissemination, and networking projects supported by:

• U.S. Department of Education
• National Science Foundation
• National Endowment for the Humanities
• Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Northwest Area Foundation

CEC enjoys the active counsel of persons representing all sectors of the Northwest's educational community.  In addition, a national group of volunteer associates serves as a two-way "pipeline" between CEC and schools and educators in all parts of the country. Its network of Advisory Committee members and Dissemination Associates provides CEC with what one U.S. Department of Education program officer has called "as effective an example of grassroots linking to be found in the country."

CEC is currently involved in cooperative programs for the personnel of public and private elementary and secondary schools, both in the Pacific Northwest and other regions of the United States. Although it provides services across the entire educational structure, CEC has put particular emphasis on efforts to enhance programs relating to:

• International/Intercultural Education (Global Studies)
• Environmental Education
• Women and the Physically Handicapped
• Gifted and Talented Youth
• Small-town and Rural Schools
• Science, Math, and Technology
• Alternative Programming and Charter Schools
• Constitutional and Law-Related Studies

CEC operates under a philosophy which stresses Equal Education Opportunity and Affirmative Action practices and procedures. This philosophy is reflected in all CEC personnel policies. Similarly, the participant profiles of CEC's various programs and projects reflect its commitment to traditionally underserved groups within the educational and general populations.

A CEC hallmark is "smallness." The organization limits the number of programs and projects in which it becomes involved, and, correspondingly strives to personalize its various conferences, workshops, and travel/study programs by limiting the number of participants. Attendance at CEC dissemination conferences is never allowed to exceed two hundred participants. By keeping its programs small, CEC is able to promote feelings of enthusiasm and ownership which are frequently missing from "en masse" educational endeavors. It is this concern for individualization that allows CEC to hand- tailor its activities according to "user" needs and expectations and has helped it establish a reputation as an agency that plans with, not for, its clients.