NGA Center for Best Practices

The NGA Center for Best Practices teams and divisions develop innovative solutions to today’s most pressing public policy challenges. The center is the only research and development firm that directly serves the nation’s Governors.

Latest

Disagree Better Panelists Highlight Ways to Teach Students of All Ages about Healthy Conflict and Free Expression

Disagree Better Panelists Highlight Ways to Teach Students of All Ages about Healthy Conflict and Free Expression

NGA Chair Utah Governor Spencer Cox and Vice Chair Colorado Governor Jared Polis welcomed Montana Governor Greg Gianforte and Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt along with national experts and students to ...
Giving Thanks, Giving Back

Giving Thanks, Giving Back

The research is clear that participating in service activities generates a host of benefits – for communities and for volunteers themselves. Service can help meet community needs and strengthen community ...
Building Systems for Success: Key Considerations for Youth Apprenticeship System Design

Building Systems for Success: Key Considerations for Youth Apprenticeship System Design

In most states, youth apprenticeship systems are relatively new and are still evolving in response to the needs of students, employers, and partners. (Download) The National Governors Association Center for ...
Lessons From the World’s High-Performing Education Systems

Lessons From the World’s High-Performing Education Systems

A Conversation With Andreas Schleicher of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. In this NGA webinar conversation, Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills and Special Advisor on Education ...

Disagree Better

Americans need to disagree better. And by that we don’t mean that we need to be nicer to each other, although that’s helpful. We need to learn to disagree in a way that allows us to find solutions and solve problems instead of endlessly bickering.

The “exhausted majority” of Americans want this, and the science is clear about interventions that reduce polarization. As doers and builders, Governors are in a unique position to model what healthy conflict looks like.

Governor Spencer Cox’s Disagree Better NGA Chair’s initiative looks at the problems of polarization, elevates the solutions that groups around the country are already implementing, and features Governors showing what disagreeing better looks like. Through public debates, service projects, public service announcements and a variety of other tactics, Americans will see a more positive and optimistic way of working through our problems.

Program Areas


Center for Best Practices Library

State Longitudinal Data Ecosystem

State Longitudinal Data Ecosystem

The National Governors Association in partnership with the Data Quality Campaign is working with states in a new learning ecosystem ...
Disagree Better Panelists Highlight Ways to Teach Students of All Ages about Healthy Conflict and Free Expression

Disagree Better Panelists Highlight Ways to Teach Students of All Ages about Healthy Conflict and Free Expression

NGA Chair Utah Governor Spencer Cox and Vice Chair Colorado Governor Jared Polis welcomed Montana Governor Greg Gianforte and Oklahoma ...
Giving Thanks, Giving Back

Giving Thanks, Giving Back

The research is clear that participating in service activities generates a host of benefits – for communities and for volunteers ...
Building Systems for Success: Key Considerations for Youth Apprenticeship System Design

Building Systems for Success: Key Considerations for Youth Apprenticeship System Design

In most states, youth apprenticeship systems are relatively new and are still evolving in response to the needs of students, ...
Lessons From the World’s High-Performing Education Systems

Lessons From the World’s High-Performing Education Systems

A Conversation With Andreas Schleicher of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. In this NGA webinar conversation, Andreas Schleicher, ...
Service as a Pathway to Economic Opportunity: A Roadmap for Governors

Service as a Pathway to Economic Opportunity: A Roadmap for Governors

This roadmap lays out five key elements with related policy options for Governors to consider as they develop and execute ...
Healthcare Delivery Topics Explored at the 2023 Governors’ Health and Human Services Advisors Institute

Healthcare Delivery Topics Explored at the 2023 Governors’ Health and Human Services Advisors Institute

In October 2023, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) hosted the Governors’ Health and Human Services ...
Advancing Apprenticeship: Opportunities For States And Business To Create And Expand Registered Apprenticeship Programs

Advancing Apprenticeship: Opportunities For States And Business To Create And Expand Registered Apprenticeship Programs

This publication highlights the significance of Registered Apprenticeship Programs (RAPs) as one of several strategies and opportunities that employers and ...
EV Workforce Collaborative

EV Workforce Collaborative

City and State leaders are presented with a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform their communities thanks to historic federal investments in ...
2023 Governors’ Education Policy Advisors Institute: K-12 Education Highlights

2023 Governors’ Education Policy Advisors Institute: K-12 Education Highlights

NGA convened Governors’ education policy advisors in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to share gubernatorial education strategies with each other and learn from ...
The Structures of State Energy Offices and Utility Regulatory Entities

The Structures of State Energy Offices and Utility Regulatory Entities

This commentary summarizes where state energy office staff and utility regulators currently reside; specifically, how their offices can be categorized ...
Governors’ Responses to Challenges in Housing Availability and Affordability

Governors’ Responses to Challenges in Housing Availability and Affordability

Every state is impacted by the national housing shortage. Housing prices have soared. Inflation has driven interest rates higher, increasing ...

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