After graduating from Reed College with a B.A. in Philosophy, Stuart taught for some time in the Portland Public Schools. Not finding quite what he was looking for, he began a music distribution company that specialized in recordings of Classical Music (a lifelong passion of his). Years later, after selling that business, Stuart decided to give teaching a try again. He received Waldorf Teacher Training and worked for many years as a Class Teacher in schools in Oregon and California, teaching many subjects to children in Grades 1–8. But a common experience during these years was encountering children still unable to read well after years of instruction. Fortunately, research by his wife Tesa led them to the Barton Reading System, an Orton Gillingham approach to teaching reading and spelling. Trying it out, Stuart became convinced of its efficacy, and taught reading to numerous students over a four-year period.
Stuart has been a beloved math teacher for decades. Having taken almost all of the Making Math Real Courses through Algebra, he uses its strategies and procedures enthusiastically in all classes. He finds David Berg's approach as beneficial to students struggling with math as the Orton Gillingham approach was to students struggling with reading. It's pure magic!
