For more than 40 years, education in America has been bouncing from one reform to another, driven by political ideologies, competing interests, and changing trends. From the No Child Left Behind Act and Common Core to the Every Student Succeeds Act and evolving teacher accountability measures, we’ve witnessed wave after wave of new mandates. Each brought passionate arguments and polarizing debates, but in all that, what have we actually accomplished? More importantly, has any of it helped our students become more capable, thoughtful, and successful people?

Teaching is one of the most meaningful things we undertake as a society. Yet we’ve treated school like a formula, checking boxes and chasing benchmarks, rather than fostering the relationships, respect, creativity, and real learning so essential to education.

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To wit, much of today’s education debate centers on control — what should be taught, who decides, and how it’s measured — while too little centers on relevance. When decision-makers view education primarily as a tool for shaping society through top-down dictates, we lose sight of its deeper purpose: to engage young people and help them discover what they’re capable of, as well as to empower them to contribute to the world around them.

After decades of testing regimes and pendulum swings, many students, parents, and teachers feel disillusioned. Some worry students are being fed political narratives rather than meaningful learning. Others feel that constant assessments have reduced learning to shallow memorization. Still others point to colleges, universities, and workforce readiness systems that seem increasingly out of sync with what students actually need. Unfortunately, this newly plowed ground is fertile for ideologues, fundraising, and hyperbole, little of which contributes to a meaningful dialogue about remedies.

It is perhaps nostalgic to reflect for a moment on the America that was built when we aspired to a broad education that included disciplines such as shop, music, history, civics, and science alongside reading, writing, and math. Generations grew up believing in the American dream. Learning was about asking questions, solving problems, reasoning, and discovering what excites one’s interests. Lately, the conversation has turned to “building a workforce,” and yes, career and technical education matters greatly, but we’re missing something significant if we reduce education to economic utility
alone.

The comment that “not everyone is suited for college” proves, in my mind, that we’ve forgotten that education fundamentally should also inspire curiosity and ambition, to prepare students for life as informed citizens. The future will demand more from our children than credentials. The advent of artificial intelligence alone augurs for a more complete education. Whether they be white collar or blue, jobs in the future will be radically transformed and perhaps replaced. If today’s students are not equipped to meet the challenges of a rapidly evolving workplace, they may become irrelevant. I firmly believe that we will fail today’s students if we cannot reimagine the delivery of education and ground it in the broad educational fabric that enabled the genius of America to flourish.

In Wyoming, we’ve chosen a different path. Through the Reimagining and Innovating the Delivery of Education initiative, we’re putting students back at the center of the conversation. We began by asking parents, students, educators, employers, and community members a simple question: What are your hopes for your schools? Turns out that when you ask a question about children, thousands respond. We then held listening sessions in communities around the state. Again, folks showed up. They care, and when one actually listens, people take note.

Alongside the Wyoming State Board of Education’s work to define a profile of a graduate, schools across our state are beginning to reimagine what learning can be. Schedules are being redesigned. Classrooms are becoming more personalized. Students are exploring real-world problems and passions. We’re not chasing another trend — we’re anchoring our work in the needs and strengths of our communities. Absolutely, tests can be helpful. But when their main purpose is to demoralize and punish educators, they squander their utility as a useful diagnostic tool. They make teaching prescriptive and learning less engaging. It’s easier but less rewarding.

What we are doing in Wyoming is making learning more relevant, more challenging, and more immersive. Students and teachers have to wrestle with what it means to be proficient according to what communities, industry, parents, and schools themselves hold up as a standard of excellence. Refreshingly, when parents are asking, “How was school today?” they are having richer conversations with their children than just “OK.”

OUR SCHOOLS NEED TO TAKE YOUNG MEN MORE SERIOUSLY

Wyoming already has school choice, and we are currently defending a state voucher program. These are both hot national topics, but Wyoming’s desire for excellence goes far beyond simple politics. The work is not about public vs. private schools or tradition vs. innovation. Rather, it is built from the ground up, ensuring every student has access to a high-quality education, no matter where they live or how they learn. It’s a pretty simple concept, really, that requires talent, commitment, and passion, but aren’t those the characteristics of the great teachers we have had the blessing of learning from in our own histories?

This is what it looks like when communities reclaim ownership of education, not through mandates or ideological battles, but through care, collaboration, and trust. Wyoming is proving that the path forward isn’t found in the next silver bullet or sweeping federal reform but in restoring the dignity of teaching, rekindling the joy of learning, and respecting the unique needs of each student. If we want a better future, we must return to the simple truth: Education is not a battleground, it’s a shared responsibility. And in Wyoming, we’re choosing to build, not battle.

Mark Gordon is the governor of Wyoming.