It Takes a Team: Giving our “Best Yes” to Building Indiana's Education Future Together

AD Williams is Managing Director of Leadership Development for Teach For America Indianapolis and the founder of AD1 Legacy, an organization focused on developing young people through mentorship, leadership development, education, and athletics. AD recently earned second place and a $30,000 award in United Way of Central Indiana’s inaugural Catalyst pitch competition for the Legacy Leadership Academy, an after-school leadership program designed to help Indianapolis middle school students enter high school confident, connected, and prepared to lead.

My entry point into Indianapolis was a classroom. Before coaching teachers across central Indiana as a leadership coach, and before founding my leadership development organization, AD1 Legacy, I came to this city as an elementary school teacher. That experience shaped everything I believe about what our students need and what they deserve, and it is the lens I still carry into every conversation about how we build the future of education in Indiana. 

This month, our MDLF class of change agents spent a full day with a lineup of leaders working across nearly every corner of Indiana's education system: from early childhood to career pathways. Different speakers, different lanes, but one theme underneath all of it: none of it works without a team that trusts each other.

"We are who we surround ourselves with"

That line, from Dr. Katie Jenner, Indiana's Secretary of Education, is the one that stuck with me most. She talked about the importance of trust and integrity on a team and about the discipline of always giving your "best yes" – not just saying yes, but showing up fully for the yes you give.

As a former teacher and now a leadership coach, that framing landed somewhere very specific for me. I’ve spent enough time in school buildings to know that the difference between a team that transforms outcomes for kids and one that struggles rarely comes down to curriculum alone. More often, it comes down to trust: whether the adults in the room believe in one another enough to be honest, to hold each other accountable, and to show up as their best selves rather than their most convenient ones. It was a principle I heard echoed by nearly every change agent who spoke that day. 

Starting earlier than we think

One of the pre-reads for our session came from Early Learning Indiana, the state's trusted voice on early childhood education since 1899, back when it operated as the “Day Nursery.” Early Learning Indiana’swork treats early care and education as a two-generational investment: when professionals are equipped to deliver high-quality early learning, families are able to work, and children get a foundation before they ever walk into a kindergarten classroom. I’m convinced that ifwe're serious about giving every student a fair shot at success, that's where it has to start – with accessible entry points long before a student ever sits down for a diploma seal or a career pathway decision.

Multiple roads forward

Indiana's newly redesigned high school diploma reflects that same commitment to accessible entry points, just further down the road. Students will now work toward 42 credits with the opportunity to earn Readiness Seals tied to Enrollment, Employment, or Enlistment and all seven of Indiana's public colleges and universities, along with a growing number of private institutions, are guaranteeing automatic acceptance to any student who earns the Enrollment Honors Plus seal.

Alongside that, Indiana has built one of the most expansive school choice landscapes in the country, charter schools, magnet schools, homeschooling, open enrollment, and four private school choice programs, including an education savings account whose newest version lets families of children with special needs build a fully customized education plan.

What ties these pathways together is a simple idea: enrollment, employment, and enlistment are three equally legitimate destinations, and a student's path shouldn't be decided for them by a single, narrow definition of "ready." But, none of those destinations are reachable if a student can't read on grade level to begin with, which is exactly why Indiana's literacy work has to sit at the center of this conversation.

The long game on literacy

Indiana’s  long-horizon commitment to literacy is what built IREAD, Indiana's third-grade reading assessment. IREAD didn't happen because one leader decided reading mattered — it happened because Indiana built a team around literacy, from the General Assembly to classroom teachers, starting back in 2010 when the legislation was passed unanimously under Governor Mitch Daniels. The test was first given in 2012, and Indiana kept giving it its “best yes” long after the headlines moved on. It's a big part of why Indiana's fourth graders recently jumped to 6th in the nation in reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, up from 19th just two years earlier — the highest-ranking Indiana has ever posted at that grade level (Indiana Department of Education, Jan. 29, 2025).

Building the pathways I didn't have

Indiana’s commitment to accessible entry points must also apply to career pathways.  Whether we take into account specialized options like early college and youth apprenticeships, regional models like CTE centers, orlocal models like career academies, there’s no single model that works everywhere for everyone.  Each come with their own tradeoffs on cost, access, and evidence. The state's job isn't to pick a winner; it's to build a coherent system: a high floor of quality under every model, a real pyramid of pathway options students can move through, and a focus on the outcomes those pathways produce rather than which specific model delivers them. That's a team decision too – no single model gets to be the hero, which means no single model gets left out of the investment.

This resonates with me personally, too.  I didn't have access to any apprenticeships or internships in high school – that path just wasn't in front of me. It wasn't until my junior year of college, working at a summer camp, that I discovered I loved teaching youth. That summer was the first place I could see my love for sports, teaching, and leading intersect in one role, and it's when I started thinking seriously about my future for the first time. Junior year of college. That's a long time to wait for a door to open, and it's exactly why I care so much about students having real exposure to these pathways years earlier than I did.

The through-line: a team, not a hero

As our class reflected on our education day together, a broader theme emerged – one that had little to do with any single policy or program. Nearly every leader in the room could point to a moment when they were called into an opportunity and the outcome of that moment depended almost entirely on the team around them. Their ability to work, trust, and give their “best yes” as a team is what dictated their ultimate success.

Indiana's children are all of our children, and our job isn't just to teach them a subject. It's to prepare Hoosiers for life, for work, and for citizenship — enrollment, employment, or enlistment, whichever path ends up being theirs to walk. None of that happens with one hero in the room. It happens with a team that trusts each other enough to keep showing up, and keeps giving its “best yes” long after it would be easier to give up.

A question for you

As I close my class day reflection, I would like to pose a question to you, thoughtful reader. Think about the team around you right now, at work, in your school, in your community. Are you surrounding yourself with people who bring their best yes, or just their yes? And when it's your turn to be part of someone else's team, which one are you bringing?

I'd love to hear your answer.