School Leader

Will charter schools finally come to Kentucky?

The Kentucky legislature has decided to redeem its failure to follow through on its flawed 2017 charter school law by trying again. HB 9 was introduced this week, and if passed as written it will correct a number of important problems wi...

Fund Students, Not Systems

Last Saturday I was greatly honored to be a guest speaker at the first statewide event sponsored by No Left Turn in Education - Kentucky. NLTE-KY is the state chapter of a national organization dedicated to fighting against leftist ind...

The fight for school choice in Kentucky - an update

Education history was made in Kentucky earlier this year when the state legislature passed - over the expected veto of Gov. Andy Beshear - one of the nation's most expansive school choice laws. But now the education establishment, in a l...

Homeschooling surges in Kentucky

Homeschooling is exploding in popularity across the United States and here in Kentucky. COVID-related school closures, mask mandates, and concerns about what students are learning may all be contributing to the exodus of families from t...

No, CRT is not just having a conversation about racism

Last night I was a guest on KET's Kentucky Tonight program talking about critical race theory and its place in Kentucky schools. Fellow guests included Rep. Joe Fischer, who recently introduced legislation that would restrict teaching c...

Unleashing Parent Power in Education

Last night I had the opportunity to give a virtual talk sponsored by the Kentucky chapter of Americans for Prosperity on the topic of "Unleashing Parent Power in Education." The talk itself isn't available to share, but I wanted to bri...

Where to Find My Essays, Op-Eds, Research, and Other Writing

I've created this page to catalog my publications, including peer-reviewed research, essays, opinion pieces, and other writing. Publications in Peer-Reviewed Journals Houchens, G. W. (2022). [Review of the book COVID-19 and the class...

Some final (for now), personal reflections about the Kentucky Board of Education

As an idealist and reformer, I'm never one to give up the fight for a good cause until I feel I've done everything in my power. For the last two months I've devoted a considerable amount of energy to resisting Gov. Andy Beshear's illegal...

Kentucky Board of Education statement on executive order

Today Governor Andy Beshear issued an executive order attempting to remove the existing members of the Kentucky Board of Education. Ten board members are taking legal action to challenge this executive order. I am serving as spokesperson...