Blog

In the past decade, we’ve written many times about the challenges facing our education system, describing Utah’s declining funding effort for schools while our rankings fell against other states in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). But today, we have good news to report! Utah has seen a noteworthy jump in reading scores in the latest figures (from 2013) and some recent increases in math scores. Take a look at Utah’s NAEP scores and … Continued

With the close of the 2014 legislative session, there were some positive outcomes for higher education in the state. A recent Salt Lake Tribune article called it the “best year at the Utah Legislature since the recession hit” for higher education. With a goal of 66% of Utahns having postsecondary certificates or degrees, it is important for higher education to receive support on all fronts. In preparation for our Utah Foundation annual meeting on March … Continued

Data are everywhere. They are used to inform, they are used to make statistical arguments for one thing and against another, and much, much more. But they are tricky. Mark Twain is quoted as saying that “facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable.” That pliability allows them to be used in tricky ways, both intentionally and unintentionally. One tricky thing to keep an eye out for is Simpson’s Paradox. Simpson’s paradox occurs when you … Continued