Dear USC Rossier Students,
We’re writing to request your participation in USC Rossier’s ongoing discussion on the redefinition of “urban education” and the related process of drafting a new mission statement for USC Rossier.
Below is the proposed mission statement prepared by the Urban Education Planning Committee:
The mission of the USC Rossier School of Education is to prepare leaders to achieve educational equity through policy, practice and research. We work to improve learning opportunities and outcomes in urban settings and to address disparities that affect historically marginalized groups. We teach our students to value and respect the cultural contexts of the communities in which they work and to interrogate the systems of power that shape policies and practices. Through innovative thinking and research, we strive to solve the most intractable educational problems.
The committee is now asking students to share your thoughts on how you would operationalize the proposed statement. In other words, how should your programs best represent and serve this mission?
You can offer this feedback in two important ways:
First, you may submit your suggestions anonymously via this form. Please submit your response no later than Thursday, Sept. 21.
Second, the Rossier Student Organization will be hosting a town hall meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 20, from 3 to 4 pm in WPH B-49. There, you can share your thoughts with one another. This will be a student-centered and student-led event; members of the RSO board will be in attendance to help facilitate the discussion. At this meeting, comments from the online submissions will be shared as a representation of the students who can’t attend the meeting.
Student input has been critical to this process. Prior to drafting the proposed mission statement, the committee relied on feedback from students in a spring survey on “Redefining Urban Education.” Your responses helped inform the agenda of a retreat in May for a group of staff, student and faculty stakeholders.
More importantly, for several years students have been at the forefront in challenging faculty and administrators to think more critically about the meaning of “urban education” as it pertains to our mission: To improve learning in urban education locally, nationally and globally.
As we near the completion of this very important process, we encourage you to once again add your important voices.
Thank you for the considerable time, effort and thought you have devoted to this process. And thank you to members of the committee for their continued commitment.
Regards,
Karen Symms Gallagher
Dean, USC Rossier School of Education
Joanna Drivalas
President, Rossier Student Organization