Former Monitor Editor Marshall Ingwerson had a radical idea. Inside the newsroom and out, he would often ask: What works? The idea is that looking at successful solutions circumvents so much needless politics and rhetoric. He’s since gone on to found The What Works Initiative. 

Today, Troy Aidan Sambajon does Marshall proud. Education is full of challenges. But Troy finds that new efforts to make community colleges affordable, even free, are making a difference. It’s a reminder of Marshall’s main point: There is a different way to look at today’s problems.