I stumbled upon Kathy Sierra’s blog, Creating Passionate Users, a couple of months ago, and I was hooked. She discusses management, marketing, and technology, but her biggest contribution is learning theory. She is the driving force behind O’Rielly’s “Head First” series of computer books, taking on the dry and often boring task of teaching computer [...]
There is, I believe, consensus among the education community that the most important influence on student performance is teacher quality. It would be difficult to find a parent who wouldn’t want the best and brightest teachers in their children’s classrooms. We have some amazing educators in Utah, but we don’t have enough of them. The [...]
It’s been a couple of weeks since the last Board of Education meeting. Chairman Burningham presented a resolution supporting Governor Huntsman’s efforts to expand kindergartens to full-day programs. While I believe the governor is well-intentioned, I disagree with the premise of full-day kindergartens. It’s true that the achievement gap we’re facing in Utah schools becomes [...]
Lynn Stoddard, author of Educating for Human Greatness, presented to the State Board of Education today. He touched on a thought that intrigued me. My interpretation was that in order to achieve maximum productivity from employees at all levels, instead of directing all employee activities, companies should instead ask the question, “What actions will you [...]
The percentage of Utah high school students demonstrating college-level mastery on the AP test was reported at 19.3%, the third highest in the nation (behind New York and Maryland) and well above the national average of 13.2%. An ethnic gap in both participation and achievement still exits: we still have a discrepancy between the percentage [...]
For about three years now it has been my goal to get an MBA. Not just from a "pay your fee, get your ‘B’" institution, but an honest to goodness university with a solid business program. In addition to the not inconsequential cost barrier, something has always been in the way. Traditional day programs are [...]
Amidst some rather unwarranted political furor and sensationalist headlines, the State Board of Education approved a position statement supporting the teaching of evolution in high school biology classes. The public participation was the largest it’s been this year. The primary proponent for including intelligent design as part of the curriculum has been Utah Senator Chris [...]
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