HOW HE SEES IT YSU has strong ties to local schools

Soon, classrooms in schools throughout the Mahoning Valley will be abuzz with activity as a new school year dawns.
Walk into just about any of those classrooms, and you're likely to find a teacher trained at Youngstown State University.
Nearly nine out of 10 teachers in elementary, middle and secondary schools in Mahoning County were educated at YSU. In Trumbull County, nearly 75 percent of school teachers went through the YSU program in the Beeghly College of Education.
At least 10 of the school district superintendents in Mahoning and Trumbull counties have been educated at YSU. The two counties combined enroll nearly 80,000 school children.
Over the past several decades, there is no other single profession in the Mahoning Valley that has been so shaped by YSU as the teaching profession.
It's a great responsibility, and it's a responsibility that we take seriously, day in and day out.
Among the many educational reforms, legislation, testing and rhetoric, one fact remains: teachers -- not methodology, not materials, not approach -- make the critical difference in a child's ultimate success in school. And that success can lead a child to college, career and lifelong successes in our communities.
Global market economy
As the world evolves into a knowledge-based and global market economy, Ohio and the Mahoning Valley will require the best-trained teachers to support its future economic development in the 21st century.
YSU, which has prepared classroom teachers since 1912, is committed to filling that need.
The college recently received re-accreditation from the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education, a stamp of approval that puts YSU's undergraduate and graduate education programs, including our doctorate in educational leadership, among the top in the nation. The accreditation is held by less than 60 percent of teacher-education programs nationwide.
The primary mission of NCATE is to ensure that all children have caring, competent and qualified teachers.
As schools swing open their doors for another academic year, children and parents will again face challenges. But, whether it is a spelling test for your first-grader or a chemistry project for your high school senior, you can rest assured that the teacher in that classroom has received the best training that we have to offer.
Let the school bells ring.
X Dr. Phil Ginnetti is dean of the Beeghly College of Education at Youngstown State University.