Anne Wicks
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Articles by Anne Wicks
How states can AI-proof the workforce
The ascent of AI is causing real-time churn in the job market; some sectors are contracting, while others are opening new frontiers, writes Anne Wicks. iStock Illustration/Getty Images High school graduates are launching into a profoundly and rapidly evolving world, but state leaders can help make sense of the change. Opportunity policy — the powerful alignment of education, workforce and economic strategies — offers a path that will enable individuals and state economies alike to thrive.
Becoming good citizens requires practice – and we all need to do our reps | George W. Bush Presidential Center
My son is playing baseball right now, and one thing he’s learning is that becoming a good hitter requires practice and repetition. The same is true for becoming good citizens: We have to do our reps. Democracy is a living and breathing thing that requires all of us to engage. It’s a participatory sport, not a reality TV show.
Texas students win when policy, data, and incentives create real support in schools
The annual ASU-GSV Summit offers endless conversations about the role of AI in schools and the latest ed tech offerings across its more than 7,000 attendees – but policy conversations are always present too to help ground innovation in the day-to-day experience of students.
Forum on Leadership 2026: At Liberty to Speak
Recently, the Bush Center held the ninth Forum on Leadership focused on the theme The Heart of America. Forum on Leadership is a landmark gathering which develops, recognizes, and celebrates leadership by bringing together notable voices for in-depth discussions on today’s pressing issues. In his welcoming remarks, Shilo Brooks, President and CEO of the George W. Bush Center, explored what is at the center of the heart of America.
Building on trust at the local level
Democracy is alive and well at the local and state level, something that is often missed in breathless coverage of its supposed imminent demise. While many Americans report feeling disconnected from national politics, they are also broadly satisfied with their own lives and communities. That means state education advocates face both a challenge and an opportunity: how to best translate that local trust into effective engagement with policymakers.
All vote, no play: Student athletes are democracy in action
Stanford University men’s basketball coach Eric Reveno has a side hustle as a champion of democracy and civic engagement. While at Georgia Tech in 2020, Reveno – now the associate head coach and general manager of Stanford men’s basketball – tweeted that all U.S. student athletes should get Election Day off from playing so they have time to vote. His idea went viral, and the NCAA soon turned it into a policy called All Vote, No Play that gives student athletes time to vote and civically engage.
Strategerist After Hours: Gratitude in a season of gathering
As we gather, travel home, or pause for a quiet moment, Thanksgiving reminds us to slow down and focus on what matters most. In today’s Strategerist After Hours episode, we’re embracing the spirit of gratitude — not just during the holidays, but as an everyday practice of noticing the good, acknowledging the people who lift us up, and finding meaning even in challenging times.
What every parent needs to know about reading
Watch Our children have been back in school for a few weeks now, and I know as parents we all want to make sure they’re learning to help support you and the students in your household. The Bush Institute is releasing a three-part back to school video series covering important education topics to make sure that you as a parent feel informed. This is the second segment in our series. You can view the first one on Texas School Accountability ratings on our website, or by clicking here.
Parents: What good reading instruction looks like
Watch Our children have been back in school for a few weeks now, and I know as parents we all want to make sure they’re learning to help support you and the students in your household. The Bush Institute is releasing a three-part back to school video series covering important education topics to make sure that you as a parent feel informed. This is the second segment in our series. You can view the first one on Texas School Accountability ratings on our website, or by clicking here.
Deciding not to build a new service: why stopping can be the right outcome | Home Office
Blog posted by: , 20 August 2025 – Service design, User centred design. Putting users at the heart of service design means making decisions based on what they actually need, not just what design and delivery teams assume they need. Sometimes that leads to a surprising but important conclusion - that building a new service isn’t always the right thing to do. User-centred design (UCD) helps teams explore problems from the perspective of users.
Laura Bush Book Club with Author Amor Towles
The Seventh Annual Laura Bush Book Club proudly featured Amor Towles. One of Mrs. Bush’s favorite authors, Towles’ novels Rules of Civility, A Gentleman in Moscow, and The Lincoln Highway, and his collection of shorter fiction Table for Two have all been New York Times bestsellers. Related: Watch the Engage at the Bush Center program presented by NexPoint here See Mrs. Bush’s 2025 Summer Reading List for Kids
Two Minute Take: Department or not – the federal role in education | George W. Bush Presidential Center
There’s a big national debate happening about the future of the U.S. Department of Education. Should it exist? Should it be broken apart? Should it be farmed out to other agencies? While ultimately Congress and the new administration will determine what the U.S. Department of Ed looks like going forward, it’s important to clarify a couple of things from questions we’ve heard from you all, about what the Department does.
America's Report Card is Out and the News Isn't Good | George W. Bush Presidential Center
Reading scores fell across the board to new lows in the 2024 National Assessment of Academic Progress (NAEP), known as America’s Report Card. Results from this exam – given to students in every state – came out this week. It’s the only apples-to-apples tool we have to see the progress of students from Florida to Alaska and all points in between. The scores were even lower than 2022’s alarming results that reflected the immediate impact of the pandemic.
Mike Morath -- Texas Education Commissioner
Kaufmann: We’re honored to be joined today by Commissioner of Education Mike Morath for the great state of Texas. He leads the Texas Education Agency that oversees pre-K through high school education for more than 5.5 million developing minds right here in Texas. Commissioner Morath, thank you so much for spending a little time with us here at the Bush Center. Morath: Thanks for having me.
Assessments Play an Important Role in Serving Students
Assessments are one of the most important – and often misunderstood – elements of education. In most cases, tests are administered by the state as well as by districts and schools. Assessments at each of these levels have distinct purposes, yield different information, and are part of a powerful, coordinated approach to improving student outcomes. Each year, states are required by federal law to administer an annual summative assessment to all public-school students.
Arthur Brooks -- The Science of Happiness
Listen The Strategerist Podcast We all seek happiness, but few of us know the science behind it. Author, Harvard professor, and philosopher of happiness Arthur Brooks is changing that through his insights, teachings, and best-selling books on how we can all build happy lives.
To learn from history’s atrocities, students must first learn to read about them
Never forget. That’s the call to action that Heather Morris, the author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, shared earlier this week with the sold-out audience at the Laura Bush Book Club, a special edition of Engage at the Bush Center, presented by NexPoint and supported by H-E-B.
Putting education to work: The Texas Tri-Agency Workforce Initiative
The workforce and public education are profoundly connected. Texas depends on a talented workforce to fuel its economy, and Texans depend on our public education system to prepare them for the jobs of today and tomorrow. But unfortunately, workforce and public education systems often operate independently, making innovation and improvement difficult. Texans deserve transparent, accurate, and comprehensive data about education and workforce pathways.
Two-Minute Take: Five key reading recommendations from the National Council on Teacher Quality
Watch “One of the issues we care deeply about at the Bush Institute is reading and whether or not kids around the country are receiving research-based reading instruction,” said Anne Wicks. In this Two-Minute Take, Anne Wicks, the Ann Kimball Johnson Director of Education and Opportunity at the George W.
The Best Way to Teach Reading Is Proven - What Mississippi, Colorado Get Right Original
This is the second piece in a two-part series that tracks Texas’ attempts to adopt the science of reading over 25 years. The lessons learned in this series are relevant to the many states who have adopted — or are attempting to adopt — the science of reading in schools. Read the first piece here. Texas lawmakers passed a measure at the end of their regular 2023 session that helped move the state forward in its effort to improve reading outcomes.
What Texas’ Tumultuous History with Literacy Means for Its Children’s Future Original
Support The 74's year-end campaign. Make a tax-exempt donation now. This is the first piece in a two-part series that tracks Texas’ attempts to adopt the science of reading over 25 years. The lessons learned in this series are relevant to the many states who have adopted — or are attempting to adopt — the science of reading in schools.
The fight for the right to educate girls
Around the world, female students face extra obstacles. Nowhere are those worse than in Afghanistan. But one groundbreaking school has found a way. In communities around the world, equitable access to education remains a persistent problem. In most places, girls face extra obstacles due to deeply embedded gender bias and antiquated norms.
How Ukraine remade its military
In just eight years, Kyiv took a force that could barely fight and turned into one that could stand down a superpower. In February 2014, when Russia invaded Ukraine for the first time, Kyiv’s armed forces quickly crumbled. Or to be more precise: They would have crumbled, had Ukraine actually fielded a military worthy of the name. On paper, the country’s armed forces were formidable, but on the ground, things were very different.
George W. Bush Presidential Center
How journalists, by working together across borders, can expose and help bring down transnational crime. Kleptocrats, corrupt officials, and organized crime networks frequently hide, launder, and spend their ill-gotten gains across multiple countries and legal jurisdictions.
Getting back to a more educated America
Why do CEOs obsess over talent management? In "Good to Great," the iconic business book published in 2001, author Jim Collins identified a surprising finding. The companies that transitioned from good to great began their ascent by deliberately getting the right people on the team - and the wrong people off. Only then could that committed, talented team work together to win, to become a great enterprise. In other words, an organization is only as good as its people.
WICKS: Education, Free Enterprise and American Prosperity – DV Journal
Why do CEOs obsess over talent management? In “Good to Great,” the iconic business book published in 2001, author Jim Collins identified a surprising finding. The companies that transitioned from good to great began their ascent by deliberately getting the right people on the team — and the wrong people off. Only then could that committed, talented team work together to win, to become a great enterprise. In other words, an organization is only as good as its people.
Policy Recommendation Education Accountability
Report January 18, 2023 Author Learn more about Anne Wicks.
How mid-sized cities can prepare students for jobs of the future
This is the second article in a series, The Texas Story, a special report from the George W. Bush Institute on paths to opportunity for young people in select Texas regions. Are young Texans on track for prosperous, self-determined lives? How do we know? And what might the outcomes mean for students and communities in other states? In a prior series last year, we explored these questions in Dallas, Houston and Austin. This fall, we visited two smaller Texas cities - Midland and Longview.
How mid-sized cities can prepare students for jobs of the future
This is the second article in a series, The Texas Story, a special report from the George W. Bush Institute on paths to opportunity for young people in select Texas regions. Are young Texans on track for prosperous, self-determined lives? How do we know? And what might the outcomes mean for students and communities in other states? In a prior series last year, we explored these questions in Dallas, Houston and Austin. This fall, we visited two smaller Texas cities - Midland and Longview.
Will Students in West Texas and East Texas Be Ready for Their Futures? (copy)
This is the first piece in a two-part series, The Texas Story, a special report from the George W. Bush Institute on paths to opportunity for young people in select Texas regions. Are young Texans on track for prosperous, self-determined lives? How do we know? And what might the outcomes mean for students and communities in other states? In a prior series last year, we explored these questions in Dallas, Houston and Austin.
Will Students in West Texas and East Texas Be Ready for Their Futures?
This is the first piece in a two-part series, The Texas Story, a special report from the George W. Bush Institute on paths to opportunity for young people in select Texas regions. Are young Texans on track for prosperous, self-determined lives? How do we know? And what might the outcomes mean for students and communities in other states? In a prior series last year, we explored these questions in Dallas, Houston and Austin.
The Texas Story: How Mid-Sized Cities Can Prepare Students for Jobs of the Future
Keep The 74 free for everyone. All donations will be matched dollar for dollar. This is the second piece in a two-part series, The Texas Story, a special report from the George W. Bush Institute on paths to opportunity for young people in select Texas regions. Are young Texans on track for prosperous, self-determined lives? How do we know? And what might the outcomes mean for students and communities in other states?
The Texas Story: Will Students in West Texas and East Texas Be Ready for Their Futures?
Keep The 74 free for everyone. All donations will be matched dollar for dollar. This is the first piece in a two-part series, The Texas Story, a special report from the George W. Bush Institute on paths to opportunity for young people in select Texas regions. Are young Texans on track for prosperous, self-determined lives? How do we know? And what might the outcomes mean for students and communities in other states? In a prior series last year, we explored these questions in Dallas, Houston and Austin.
Commentary: The pandemic devastated learning, but it’s not too late for our kids
Anne Wicks, For the Express-News Sep. 6, 2022 The grades are in, and as many feared, COVID-19 school disruptions were devastating for our kids. But the good news is that we know where to focus our efforts to help students. Reading scores for 9-year-olds fell for the first time since 1990, and their math scores dropped for the first time in the five decades the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the Nation’s Report Card, has surveyed students.
Our Democracy Needs Our Public School Experiment to Succeed
A district superintendent, a teacher and a parent walk into a bar, arguing about COVID-19 protocols, year-end testing and book lists. Who pays the tab? The kids. For decades, Americans have sent their children to learn and grow under the care of professional educators in public schools. Today’s system of school districts developed as Americans agreed that our tax dollars should be used to ensure that our youngest citizens could someday hold a job and read a ballot.
Our democracy needs public education experiment to succeed
A district superintendent, a teacher and a parent walk into a bar, arguing about COVID-19 protocols, year-end testing and book lists. Who pays the tab? The kids. For decades, Americans have sent their children to learn and grow under the care of professional educators in public schools. Today's system of school districts developed as Americans agreed that our tax dollars should be used to ensure that our youngest citizens could someday hold a job and read a ballot.
Wicks: This country needs its public schools to succeed
A district superintendent, a teacher and a parent walk into a bar, arguing about COVID-19 protocols, year-end testing and book lists. Who pays the tab? The kids. For decades, Americans have sent their children to learn and grow under the care of professional educators in public schools. Today’s system of school districts developed as Americans agreed that our tax dollars should be used to ensure that our youngest citizens could someday hold a job and read a ballot.
Commentary: Our democracy needs our public school experiment to succeed
A district superintendent, a teacher and a parent walk into a bar, arguing about COVID-19 protocols, year-end testing and book lists. Who pays the tab? The kids. For decades, Americans have sent their children to learn and grow under the care of professional educators in public schools. Today’s system of school districts developed as Americans agreed that our tax dollars should be used to ensure that our youngest citizens could someday hold a job and read a ballot.
Our democracy needs our public school experiment to succeed
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Our Democracy Needs Our Public School Experiment to Succeed – InsideSources
A district superintendent, a teacher and a parent walk into a bar, arguing about COVID-19 protocols, year-end testing and book lists. Who pays the tab? The kids. For decades, Americans have sent their children to learn and grow under the care of professional educators in public schools. Today’s system of school districts developed as Americans agreed that our tax dollars should be used to ensure that our youngest citizens could someday hold a job and read a ballot.
Opinion: Ban books? Focus on teaching kids to read.
Books and bans are seeping into school board meeting agendas, proposed legislation and candidate platforms. The noise of these debates obscures the real reading injustice — far too many of our students aren’t reading at grade level. That should outrage all of us. In Texas, only 38 percent of third graders read at grade level, according to the 2021 STAAR test. Far too many of our state’s Black and Hispanic students are behind their peers in reading.
The Texas Story: 8 Lessons For Student Success - and Strengthening the State’s Talent Pipeline - to Sustain Another Century
Getty Images Sign up here for The 74’s daily newsletter. Donate here to support The 74's independent journalism. This piece is part of “The Texas Story,” a four-week series produced in partnership with the George W. Bush Institute examining how well Texas students are being prepared for the workforce as the country recovers from the pandemic. Read all the pieces in this series as they are published here. Read our previous accountability series here and here.
When Focusing on Education’s Fundamentals Becomes Innovative: Inside the Texas Schools Putting the Basics of Strong Teaching, Learning & Governing Above Politics
YES Prep North Central in Houston, Texas. (Getty Images) Sign up here for The 74’s daily newsletter. Donate here to support The 74's independent journalism. This piece is part of “The Texas Story,” a four-week series produced in partnership with the George W. Bush Institute examining how well Texas students are being prepared for the workforce as the country recovers from the pandemic. Read all the pieces in this series as they are published here. Read our previous accountability series here and here.
The Texas Story: Why Strong School Governance and Effective Education Ecosystems Are Key in Helping Students Thrive
KIPP Pleasant Grove Middle School in Dallas, Texas (kipp.org) Sign up here for The 74’s daily newsletter. Donate here to support The 74's independent journalism. This piece is part of “The Texas Story,” a four-week series produced in partnership with the George W. Bush Institute examining how well Texas students are being prepared for the workforce as the country recovers from the pandemic. Read all the pieces in this series as they are published here.
The Texas Story: Climbing Out of a Pandemic, With 15 Years Until the State’s Bicentennial, How Well Are Students Being Prepared for the Workforce?
Kathlyn Joy Gilliam Collegiate Academy. (Andrew Kaufmann / George W. Bush Institute) Get essential education news and commentary delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up here for The 74’s daily newsletter. This piece is part of “The Texas Story,” a four-week series produced in partnership with the George W. Bush Institute examining how well Texas students are being prepared for the workforce as the country recovers from the pandemic. Read all the pieces in this series as they are published here.
Commentary: Cut the politics, implement plans to keep kids in school - safely
Most parents want their children to attend school in person this year, and experts agree it’s critically important. Learning slowed — or, in some cases, stopped entirely — for many students after March 2020, leaving thousands of young people off track and vulnerable to new limits on their futures. Parents and caregivers struggled to help children learning from home while also working. Mental health issues for children skyrocketed as the pandemic progressed.
Conditions for Change: The School Leadership Initiative
Report Bush Institute research with four district partners revealed certain conditions that need to be in place for practice and policy change to occur. Educators, policymakers, philanthropists, and others have worked for decades to improve education by implementing new policies and practices to better serve students. But the desired improvement has been elusive – more sporadic (and anecdotal) than systemic.
Standardized Tests Are Essential for Equity
By Anne Wicks October 30, 2020 State standardized exams help parents, educators, and policymakers understand which kids are on track—who is falling behind—so that the adults can act accordingly to better meet students’ needs. This information is more crucial than ever this year given that traditional schooling is now upended. COVID-19 forced school closures, reopening delays, and shifted millions of students into virtual classrooms and nearly unrecognizable in-person instruction.
Standardized Tests Are Essential for Equity
Standardized Tests Are Essential for Equity State standardized exams help parents, educators, and policymakers understand which kids are on track—who is falling behind—so that the adults can act accordingly to better meet students' needs. This information is more crucial than ever this year given that traditional schooling is now upended. Read Full Article »
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