Because of the new leadership at the U.S. Department of Education, educators worry that political ideologies and unproven agendas will be pushed and imposed, 
rather than reforms based on best practice and research. In this article published in The Atlantic, the failures of the for-profit education reform sector are examined.
Iceland Knows How To Stop Teen Substance Abuse. The World Isn’t Listening
An article with clear, research-based examples of how to diminish substance abuse in young people: long- versus short-term investments, prevention over treatment. And importantly, involving schools and parents and community organizations, driven at the federal level to ensure local success.
A few factors emerged as strongly protective: participation in organized activities – especially sport – three or four times a week, total time spent with parents during the week, feeling cared about at school, and not being outdoors in the late evenings.
Teaching a Future President
The complexities of problem-solving the near impossibilities, and lessons for teachers and leaders alike involve critical thinking, collaboration, effective communication, access to information, and vision. What would we do if we knew we had a future president in our classroom?
A president’s job is a special kind of difficult — not just demanding, but exceedingly complex. One of President Obama’s advisers once said that nothing comes to the desk of the president unless it’s “almost impossible” — and he has to figure it out.
The Complexity of School Choice as Improvement Model
The Harvard Graduate School of Education‘s online journal Usable Knowledge published an interview with educational economist Joshua Goodman regarding the implications of President Elect Donald Trump’s selection of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education. Specifically,
The selection (of DeVos) has raised larger questions about who should finance education, how schools should be held accountable, and even how we define the value of a public school system.
A major factor negatively influencing school choice and market pressures as the sole direction of education improvement efforts are the lack of immediacy, where school quality is more difficult to measure than in other areas of the economy, like Goodman’s examples of restaurants and grocery stores.
Inside Detroit’s Radical Experiment to Save Its Public Schools
Referencing this older article about the complete restructuring of Detroit Public Schools, but it’s instructive for education reform efforts when parent Arlyssa Heard’s comments are considered:
“We have people making decisions who do not have children here and don’t know anything about what educators are facing in the classroom.”
Education reform efforts need to involve educators and parents, reliant on research and best practice and local influence, absent of ideology.