Issues

Critical Race Theory is a philosophy rooted in Marxist "Critical Theory" that categorizes people as either oppressors or oppressed, in this case according to race. In education, this philosophy is seeping in under the banner of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) programs. Designed to shame and stir up activism against an existing system, CRT is inherently divisive and has no place in Utah primary schools, a position supported by a majority in the Utah legislature. State and Local school boards have more work to do to set effective policy for serving the needs of diverse communities while rejecting the politically divisive narratives and racial stereotyping of CRT. 

It's hard for some to believe this is a real issue, but graphic and explicit content and materials have made their way into books that sit on public school shelves.  Even elementary schools have some of these books with extremely graphic content. Despite Utah parents' efforts to remove them, however, a number of special interests have come forward to prevent this claiming this is a First Amendment issue. This is not true. One person's right to publish something does not require another party buy or consume it.  Read More

Did you know Utah has received a series of federal grants to create detailed student data systems to be interoperable with other states, resulting in a de facto national workforce database? This data has already been the target of hackers, not to mention the privacy overreach that occurs from access to this data that is approved, but not disclosed to students or their parents. Increased time by students on digital learning platforms from a variety of companies also has privacy implications. Current State laws, board and district policies are not adequate for the current education environment.  Read More

In the 10+ years since Utah gave up higher ranked standards to align with other states under Common Core, academic achievement continues to decline. Why have only minimal changes been made? Handicapping our ability to make more significant changes or even allow for competing approaches to drive progress was always a mistake, but one I believe people can see more clearly in retrospect. It's time to move on from this failed experiment and focus on quality, not compatibility. 

Utah joined the majority of other states in adopting Common Core aligned computer adaptive testing to satisfy Federal accountability requirements. Alyson served on the first parent-review panel for these tests and shared her experience in an interview that is still relevant today.  Read More

Competency Based Education in theory means that a student who could demonstrate competency in a subject, could move ahead in their education and certification without taking a course on that subject, but the underlying system to which this practice is applied is the key. Read More