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A Publication of United Way of Salt Lake |
July 26, 2007
Businesses looking to expand or relocate are attracted to Utah because of its young, educated workforce. That's not surprising, since 51 percent of Utah's children have at least one parent with a postsecondary degree, while the national average is 43 percent, according to Editorial Projects in Education, the nonprofit publisher of Education Week. While we can take pride in our educated workforce, there are barriers to education that, if not taken down, will eventually impact our quality of life and diminish the economic health of the state.
"Barriers to education" is one of the 17 priority problems identified in United Way of Salt Lake's (UWSL) 2007 Community Assessment. These barriers come in a variety of forms, including language differences, insufficient funding and lack of support for teachers, insufficient early learning options, and accessibility problems.
Education empowers children and adults to be active participants in society and helps break the generational cycles of poverty. Sadly, barriers to education are preventing many children and adults in our community from developing the knowledge and skills necessary for economic and civic success. Consider these important research findings:
In many areas, we are falling behind educationally at a time when society and economy demands a higher set of skills to survive and compete. Removing the barriers to education is an important step to improving the lives of those who need it most, such as our low-income and our minority, immigrant, and refugee families. Such an effort won't happen over night, but it must happen, and UWSL is committed to help facilitate the change. To that end, UWSL is working to establish a Community Learning Center (CLC) initiative in the communities we serve. The CLC model is an integrated approach to addressing roadblocks to learning within schools, communities, and families.
I invite you to read our Impact Matters article, which describes the CLC model in detail, and highlights some of the successes our Community Partners are achieving through their important work.
Deborah S. Bayle
President and CEO
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COMMUNITY MATTERS |
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Businesses looking to expand or relocate are attracted to Utah because of its young, educated workforce. That's not surprising, since 51 percent of Utah's children have at least one parent with a postsecondary degree, while the national average is 43 percent, according to Editorial Projects in Education, the nonprofit publisher of Education Week. While we can take pride in our educated workforce, there are barriers to education that, if not taken down, will eventually impact our quality of life and diminish the economic health of the state.
"Barriers to education" is one of the 17 priority problems identified in United Way of Salt Lake's (UWSL) 2007 Community Assessment. These barriers come in a variety of forms, including language differences, insufficient funding and lack of support for teachers, insufficient early learning options, and accessibility problems.
Education empowers children and adults to be active participants in society and helps break the generational cycles of poverty. Sadly, barriers to education are preventing many children and adults in our community from developing the knowledge and skills necessary for economic and civic success. Consider these important research findings:
- Since 1996, Utah's poverty achievement gap has increased about one grade level, while the U.S. poverty achievement gap remained about approximately the same. (The poverty achievement gap is the gap between poor children--those eligible for reduced or free lunch--and children who are not poor.)
- In 2005, Utah Hispanics scored nearly three grade levels below Whites in fourth grade reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
- Utah's White-Hispanic achievement gap in fourth grade reading was the eighth largest in the nation.
- Utah has the highest pupil-teacher ratio and the lowest per pupil expenditures in the nation.
- This year, nearly 26 percent of Utah's high school seniors did not pass the mandated high school exit exam.
In many areas, we are falling behind educationally at a time when society and economy demands a higher set of skills to survive and compete. Removing the barriers to education is an important step to improving the lives of those who need it most, such as our low-income and our minority, immigrant, and refugee families. Such an effort won't happen over night, but it must happen, and UWSL is committed to help facilitate the change. To that end, UWSL is working to establish a Community Learning Center (CLC) initiative in the communities we serve. The CLC model is an integrated approach to addressing roadblocks to learning within schools, communities, and families.
I invite you to read our Impact Matters article, which describes the CLC model in detail, and highlights some of the successes our Community Partners are achieving through their important work.
Deborah S. Bayle
President and CEO