Not satisfied with simply bankrolling Democratic candidates, the National Education Association now offers a compendium of teacher prep materials for educators. The catch? It’s a functional checklist of some of the worst ideas in education.

Their “micro-credential library” includes entire modules dedicated not to the science of reading or student discipline, but to gay and transgender inclusivity, restorative justice, trauma-informed pedagogy, and diversity, equity, and culture competence.

They are capitalizing on a growing policy trend: More than half of states now allow teachers to leverage micro-credentials — digital certifications earned through short online courses on specific topics — to both earn and maintain licensure.

There is much to recommend this approach: It’s affordable, self-paced, and narrowly focused on specific job skills. As such, these experiments and alternative pathways for teacher development are worth exploring.

But there are also drawbacks. With no centralized body overseeing micro-credentials, their value depends on the repute of the organization issuing them. The NEA is one institution that school personnel largely trust, yet their micro-credential library would be best avoided for teachers hoping to improve their instruction.

In addition to the aforementioned modules, the library also includes micro-credentials in topics such as “Adult Social Emotional Learning” and “Climate Change and Environmental Justice.” Will invigorating explorations on the nuts-and-bolts of self-care and........

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