One of the most fascinating parts of my job as a principal is when I have the opportunity to conduct interviews to fill a teaching position. I enjoy this partly because I like to meet new people and I am also fascinated by the different approaches that people take coming into an interview. There are several tips that can make conducting an interview easier. These interviews are very important. Who you decide to hire or move along in the interview process will ultimately factor in to how effective you are as a principal. There is a lot riding on the fact that you can hire the right person. How you conduct the interview can provide you with more information to that allows you to ultimately make the correct decision.

I have added five new terms to the teaching glossary for the month of April. I will continue to add new terms each month. This is primarily to aide readers who may not have a background in education.

• Ad Valorem
• Bloom's Taxonomy
• Depth of Knowledge
• Rubric
• Title I

There are essentially five choices that parents have today when it comes to their child's education. Those include public school, private school, charter school, homeschooling, and virtual/online school. Each of these have their own pros and cons, but which one has the best learning environment? A reader inspired me to answer this question.

I believe that each of these choices can be an effective learning environment and that a child's academic success depends more upon the parents that are raising them than on the environment in which they learn. If a parent values and pushes education, then typically their child will be successful. Likewise, if a parent doesn't value and push education, then the child's chances at academic success are less likely. The parents choice in what type of schooling is secondary to the overall value placed on education.

The transition to the Common Core State Standards promises to be an interesting and wild ride into uncharted waters. In my opinion the impending full implementation of the Common Core Standards will completely change education in America. Some of these changes will be for the better and some will be for the worse. No matter how you feel personally about the CCSS, they are coming. Implementation will start in 2013-2014. We are now in the transition phase. Those who aren't moving towards full implementation will be behind.