Government for Good: Why Implementation Matters Now More Than Ever

I once sat in Baltimore City Hall watching Mayor O'Malley review data dashboards tracking everything from potholes to crime stats. "Show me your data," he'd demand of department heads. This wasn't political theater—it was government using evidence to serve people effectively.

As we face critical challenges in governance today, the question isn't about right vs. left politics. It's about whether we'll use evidence to lift all people, with targeted support for those who need it most.

At EdScale, we're committed to this vision in education—focusing on implementation, the critical space between plans and results. We help leaders ask: What are our priorities? What does evidence say works? How do we track progress and course correct?

The stakes are our children's futures. The choice is between evidence-based governance that serves all people or power-based governance that serves itself.

Kicking off the new year with highlights in our end-of-year podcast compilation featuring incredible education leaders and practitioners. 🎉

Throughout the second half of the year, we had the pleasure of recording conversations with leaders who are doing the hard, real work of implementing change across education systems—and this episode brings together some of the moments that resonated most with our listeners.

Key insights from this compilation include:

A huge thank you to Laura Weeldreyer, Derek Mitchell, Joanna Staib, Jon Wickert, and Dr. Maria Navarro for sharing their insights, experience, and leadership.

As we head into the new year, we’re grateful for these conversations—and excited to keep learning alongside leaders committed to improving outcomes for students, educators, and communities.

In this episode, I’m joined by two of Delaware’s workforce and CTE leaders — 𝐉𝐨𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐛, Statewide Coordinator of Delaware’s new Office of Workforce Development, and 𝐃𝐫. 𝐉𝐨𝐧 𝐖𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐭, Director of Career & Technical Education at the Delaware Department of Education.

In this special episode, I celebrate the two-year anniversary of my book How to Implement (Just About) Anything, now available as an audiobook on Audible!

I share reflections on what has changed and what still holds true about implementation since the book’s release, and introduce a short excerpt from one of the book’s most practical insights for leaders driving change in real-world systems.

Links mentioned from show notes:

Listen to the audiobook: How to Implement (Just About) Anything – Audible

Explore all episodes: EdScale Podcast

𝙂𝙤 𝙎𝙚𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙠: 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝘿𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙚'𝙨 𝙀𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙮 𝙇𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙮 𝙎𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙑𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙍𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙚𝙙

𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄: 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡-𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 & 𝐃𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐃𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐒𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬

For Father's Day, I was given a family-friendly cooking class from my wife and boys (3rd and 6th grade). The experience reminded me of how cooking and education have quite a bit in common. Including cuts and burns!

Making Reform Real: Lessons from Maryland’s Blueprint

Want to implement ambitious education reforms that actually stick? Maryland’s Blueprint shows us the stakes — and the lessons.

I recently joined the Blueprint Pillar 5 Advisory Committee to share insights on how communication and implementation strategies can make or break systemic reform. While Maryland is the case study, these lessons apply anywhere leaders are trying to drive meaningful change.

The takeaway? Policy sets the direction, but success is 90% about implementation. Clear roles, timely updates, and school-first communication are what build trust, accelerate learning, and scale what works.

Whether you’re in education leadership, policy, or school improvement, these strategies can help your initiatives gain traction.

Listen now to hear how we can align big reforms with everyday practice — and make communication the bridge between intent and reality.

Finding Our Stride in Times of Change!

EdScale's Founder Tom DeWire gave the closing keynote in July 2025 at the annual CACTE Summit in Colorado to talk about change management.  It was an incredible gathering of over 400 educators in Colorado focused on career and technical education. 

Since 1917, Colorado Association for Career and Technical Education (CACTE) has been the largest state organization supporting CTE educators in their efforts to prepare students for career and life success.

EdScale co-designed breakouts right after this session for their members to put the learnings from the conference into practice around four key questions relevant to educators in Colorado.  It was a pleasure to work with such a committed group of educators!

Change is inevitable. But how we implement it—that’s the choice. At CACTE, I left the group with a few key takeaways:

Because the real measure of leadership isn’t how fast you get to the finish line—it’s how many people cross it with you.