Ongoing, embedded professional development is critical to developing and supporting innovative, networked and connected classrooms.

In our innovative classrooms across America, students are using technology in ways that were unheard of just ten short years ago. In a small elementary school in Northwest Baltimore, students use their Makerspace to create 3D printed materials, learn to code and engage in other making activities. In another school in Philadelphia, a student fulfils his senior capstone project requirement by creating a “Smart Beehive” that uses sensors and a camera to track the health of a bee colony.

As someone who has recently exited the U.S. educational system and working to figure out my place in our global society, I’ve been pondering some questions that require continued exploration and consideration.

It’s about solving problems and doing hard things first

Every enterprise needs to innovate. It doesn’t matter whether you’re are a profit-seeking business, a nonprofit organization, or a government entity. The simple truth is that every business model fails eventually because conditions change over time. We have to manage not for stability, but for disruption — that, or face irrelevance.

This year will feature a whopping thirty-six governors’ races, half of which are wide open, with incumbents who are term-limited or not running for re-election. Victors will have the opportunity to improve policies in many areas.