During this past election, the school voucher referendum placed new emphasis on education needs in Utah. While Utah State University took no position on the referendum, despite advertising that suggested otherwise, USU strongly endorses and is continually working toward finding new and innovative ways of improving education in Utah.
What USU has long supported and endorsed is quality education in Utah schools and a deep respect for the hard-working professionals who dedicate their lives to Utah’s children. Our nationally top-ranked College of Education and Human Services continues its land-grant mission by preparing more early childhood, elementary education and special education teachers than any other state-funded college. And USU’s cutting-edge programs in distance education continue to develop highly qualified “home-grown” teachers and educational leaders who truly understand the needs of rural communities.
USU strongly endorses education priorities articulated by the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce, including increased funding for public schools, public school and business community partnerships and higher education access. We share in their commitment to improve public education.
What USU has also endorsed, for decades, is educational innovation. Now is the time to increase our efforts to solve the problems at hand. Our College of Education and Human Services and other faculty members at USU are prepared and poised to deal with the challenges. Utah’s students occupy the minds of our faculty and researchers on a daily basis. They are addressing the problems of overcrowding, language skills, literacy and special education.
Today, for example, we are addressing the crisis in mathematics instruction with an internationally recognized Virtual Manipulatives Web Site, which receives more than five million hits per day, or 1.6 billion hits per year.
Similarly, our Center for Persons with Disabilities provides a tremendous range of state-of-the-art services to schools and families. Whether it's early childhood education, Reading First programs, English as a Second Language (ESL) endorsements, hands-on science workshops, technology-enhanced arts education, open courseware or countless other innovations, USU is conducting pioneering work where it matters — in the classroom.
We hope the passion demonstrated during the recent voucher debate will translate into a desire for Utah residents to come together to bring about increased involvement and assessment for our schools. The results will benefit generations of Utah’s children.
Stan L. Albrecht
President
Utah State University
