With more than four decades of expertise in education and leadership, Susan M. Goers, EdD, is the celebrated co-founder and executive director of the Ogden, Utah-based Education Transformed, where she is responsible for hiring and training teachers, securing curricular materials and collaborating with schools on professional development, and mentoring school leadership teams on how to train their own teachers. Moreover, Dr. Goers is the respected head of school at the Telos Classical Academy in Park City, Utah.
Highly credentialed, Dr. Goers holds a Google project management certification, an elementary education K–6 teacher certification from the Utah State Board of Education, TESOL certification, and administration certification. She maintains key memberships in the Heritage Foundation President’s Club, AMLE, ACCS, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the National Council of Teachers of English, ASCD, and Society for Classical Learning.
Dr. Goers fondly recalls knowing from her earliest memory that she would grow up to become a teacher. Laying an outstanding academic foundation for her future success, she earned a Doctor of Education in transformational leadership from Concordia University after securing a Master of Science in curriculum and instruction from Western Governors University, and a Bachelor of Arts in religious studies and education from Nazareth College of Rochester (now Nazareth University). Sharing her professional passion in her Education Transformed biography, Dr. Goers recounted that “school” was all she ever played as a youngster. Throughout high school she served as a teacher’s assistant and an office assistant whenever the opportunity arose. She also expressed how privileged she was to have parents who valued education enough to enroll her in the finest classical private schools from kindergarten through 12th grade. During her higher education journey, she remembers being so anxious to “get into the classroom” that she completed her four-year degree in three years, then embarked on her first official job teaching 4th grade in 1982.
Enjoying a varied and vibrant career, Dr. Goers was the network director of curriculum, instruction and assessment at Ascent Classical Academies, where she also thrived as the network recruiter. Previously, she founded and was director of the American Cavalier Academy and was the clinical supervisor at Western Governors University among other key roles, which included successful tenures as the charter author, founder and director of Capstone Classical Academy, the director of curriculum and instruction at the Utah Military Academy, an instructor at the Good Foundations Academy, and the Utah lead reviewer for Cognia Accreditation. Among her many achievements, Dr. Goers traveled to Finland as part of her doctoral program to focus on active learning education. This experience led her to integrate active learning and mastery into a classical framework, resulting in the development of the transformational classical model. Upon returning to the United States, she designed and copyrighted this model before establishing Capstone Classical Academy.
Honored through the years for her academic and professional dedication, Dr. Goers has received numerous awards including a scholarship from the Association American of Educators in 2016, and the Charter School Educator of the Year designation from UAPCS in 2011. She also contributed to creative projects such as her podcast episode “What is Virtue? With Dr. Susan Goers” on One Herd Podcast in 2019. Looking forward, Dr. Goers plans to expand the Telos Classical Academy while continuing to travel and assist in establishing classical schools across the country.
Away from work, the community-minded Dr. Goers teaches Bible study at her home church and volunteers with The Humane Society of the United States and various church organizations. She achieves further work-life balance by cherishing time with her husband and other family, to whom she is grateful for their ongoing love and support of her endeavors. She relishes time with friends and enjoys outdoor activities such as paddleboarding and hiking.