In a Monday morning high school art class in West Greenwich, a security detail stood next to a table adorned with rows of metallic-tubed paints in varying states of fullness, and kept close watch over U.

Mississippi’s turnaround has been the talk of the education world over the last few years. Its success has generated awe but also skepticism. After all, it is notoriously difficult to improve schools at scale. Could the “Mississippi miracle,” as some have called it, be real? I traveled to Mississippi last month to see for myself.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon is bringing about a new era in education — and perhaps the end of public schools as we know them.

The panelists at the Harvard conference offered interesting responses to the question. Their answers included the “unlocking of potential,” the building of knowledge and skills that make a person “useful,” and, as Dr. Kelisha Graves proposed, the development of “better human beings” who can create a “beloved community.”

The science of reading was a “key piece of what we did,” said Rachel Canter, the longtime leader of education reform group Mississippi First who now works at the Progressive Policy Institute, said to the Times. But people are “missing the forest for the trees if they are only looking at that.”

The funding was being used toward a new Nassau Community College program that helps struggling students remain in school.

Democrats must embrace institutional reform and prioritize accountability in public education to regain the trust of parents and voters, and to ensure a future-focused education agenda that