The Education Gadfly Show - podcast cover

The Education Gadfly Show

Thomas B. Fordham Institutefordhaminstitute.org

For more than 15 years, the Fordham Institute has been hosting a weekly podcast, The Education Gadfly Show. Each week, you’ll get lively, entertaining discussions of recent education news, usually featuring Fordham’s Mike Petrilli and David Griffith. Then the wise Amber Northern will recap a recent research study. For questions or comments on the podcast, contact its producer, Stephanie Distler, at sdistler@fordhaminstitute.org.

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Episodes

#780: The state of teacher licensure - 07/28/21

On this week’s podcast, Kate Walsh, president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss NCTQ’s new analysis on teacher licensure tests . On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines the importance of informational text, be it oral, written, or visual.

Jul 28, 202128 min

#779: How districts are spending federal aid - 07/21/21

On this week’s podcast, Bree Dusseault, practitioner-in-residence at the Center on Reinventing Public Education, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss how large school systems are spending their federal pandemic aid dollars. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines how much remote learning harmed students socially, emotionally, and academically.

Jul 21, 202123 min

#778: The virus isn’t done with schools - 07/14/21

On this week’s podcast, John Bailey, a nonresident senior fellow at AEI, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss the Delta variant’s likely impact on school reopenings this fall. On the Research Minute, Olivia Piontek examines how stand-alone technical high schools affect students’ short- and long-term outcomes.

Jul 14, 202124 minEp. 778

#777: O-H-I-O: School reform victories in the Buckeye State - 07/08/21

On this week’s podcast, Chad Aldis, Fordham’s vice president for Ohio policy, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss the big ed reform victories this past legislative session on private school choice, charter schools, and accountability . On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines how parents use education savings accounts.

Jul 08, 202129 min

#776: Can curriculum reform succeed where the rest of standards-based reform failed? - 07/01/21

On this week’s podcast, Morgan Polikoff, Associate Professor of Education at USC, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss his new book, Beyond Standards: The Fragmentation of Education Governance and the Promise of Curriculum Reform. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines how the spread of universal free meals affects students’ perceptions of safety.

Jul 01, 202126 min

#774: Research Deep Dive: The impact of urban charter schools - 06/16/21

On this week’s podcast, Brian Gill, senior fellow at Mathematica and director of the U.S. Department of Education’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Educational Laboratory, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith for the fourth installment of our Research Deep Dive series, this one focusing on the impact of urban charter schools on student outcomes—for those in both the charter and traditional public schools.

Jun 16, 202127 min

#773: Should schools offer a virtual option this fall? - 06/10/21

On this week’s podcast, Derrell Bradford, newly appointed president of 50CAN, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss whether New York City and other major districts should still offer a virtual option this fall. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines how well Arkansas’s middle and high school postsecondary-readiness metrics predict college outcomes.

Jun 10, 202127 min

#772: What’s going to happen to the NAEP reading test? - 06/02/21

On this week’s podcast, Checker Finn joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss the current kerfuffle over the NAEP reading assessment. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines whether alternative certification policies increase the number of new teachers of color.

Jun 02, 202122 min

#770: Hooray for Florida’s new school choice legislation - 05/20/21

On this week’s podcast, Doug Tuthill, president of Step Up for Students, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss the potential impact of and lessons from Florida’s new school choice expansion. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines how users engage with professional learning that takes place online.

May 20, 202125 min

#769: Should we break up behemoth school districts? - 05/12/21

On this week’s podcast, Howard Husock, adjunct scholar in Domestic Policy Studies at AEI, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss his new report, “The case for breaking up big urban school systems.” On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines children’s learning outcomes when they read on paper versus digital devices.

May 12, 202124 min

#768: Debating Biden’s universal pre-K plan - 05/05/21

On this week’s podcast, Mike Petrilli, Checker Finn, and David Griffith discuss President Biden’s proposal for universal preschool. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines how school board size affects charter schooling and teacher salaries.

May 05, 202123 min

#767: The fight to get kids back in class five days a week - 04/28/21

On this week’s podcast, Clarice Schillinger, founder of Keeping Kids in School PAC, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss her experience leading the movement for five-day-a-week, in-person instruction for Pennsylvania public school kids. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines the reading skills of fourth graders who perform at low levels on NAEP.

Apr 28, 202125 min

A victory for charter school funding in Oklahoma - 04/14/21

On this week’s podcast, Chris Brewster, president of the Oklahoma Public Charter School Association, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss how a recently settled lawsuit will boost charter school funding in the Sooner State. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines how math and ELA gender gaps change between childhood and young adulthood.

Apr 14, 202123 min

The pandemic’s silver lining: School choice victories in statehouses nationwide - 04/07/21

On this week’s podcast, John Schilling, president of the American Federation for Children, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss a string of school choice victories in this year’s state legislative sessions. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines how some privileged parents discussed their local school system on an online parent forum.

Apr 07, 202127 min

Good news on instructional materials - 03/31/21

On this week’s podcast, Eric Hirsch, founding executive director of EdReports, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss how teachers are increasingly gaining access to high-quality instructional materials. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines how better truancy notifications to parents reduced student absences.

Mar 31, 202125 min

Accelerating learning post-pandemic - 03/24/21

On this week’s podcast, David Steiner, executive director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to explain why schools should embrace acceleration over remediation when addressing students’ unfinished learning. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines efforts to reliably measure teacher quality at scale.

Mar 25, 202128 min

How to get high-dosage tutoring right - 03/17/2021

On this week’s podcast, Mike Petrilli and David Griffith are joined by Michael Goldstein, founder of Match Education in Boston, and Bowen Paulle, a faculty member at the University of Amsterdam, to discuss the new Fordham paper they co-authored, The narrow path to do it right: Lessons from vaccine making for high-dosage tutoring . On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines a recent and rapid rise in private tutoring centers....

Mar 17, 202129 min

Biden’s relief bill will cut child poverty in half. What’s not to like? - 03/10/21

On this week’s podcast, Scott Winship, resident scholar and director of poverty studies at the American Enterprise Institute, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss the expanded and fully refundable child tax credit that’s included in President Biden's Covid-19 relief bill—and why it should give conservatives pause. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines how special education affects the odds that students with disabilities face school discipline.

Mar 10, 202127 min

A view from the frontlines of the reopening wars - 03/03/21

On this week’s podcast, education policy wonk Karen Vaites joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss her experience leading a return-to-school movement in New York City. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines how the admissions policies of Boston’s exam schools affect racial diversity.

Mar 03, 202125 min

Does Biden have the right tack on school reopenings? - 02/24/21

On this week’s podcast, Mike Petrilli, David Griffith, and Dale Chu debate whether President Biden’s soft touch will succeed in getting schools in blue districts to reopen. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines the unintended effects of test-based accountability on students in untested grades.

Feb 24, 202124 min

More parents now admit that their kids have fallen behind academically. Can that awareness power a new wave of reform? - 02/17/21

On this week’s podcast, Bibb Hubbard, founder and president of Learning Heroes, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss how to leverage parents’ newfound awareness of their children's academic struggles during the pandemic. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines whether in-person schooling contributes to the spread of Covid-19.

Feb 17, 202129 min

Hard evidence on charter schools and district finances - 02/10/21

On this week’s podcast, Mike Petrilli and David Griffith are joined by Mark Weber, a special analyst for education policy at the New Jersey Policy Perspective, to discuss the new report he authored for Fordham, Robbers or Victims? Charter Schools and District Finances . On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines a poll of parents’ opinions on Covid-19 and their children’s’ schooling....

Feb 10, 202128 min

Federal Covid-19 stimulus, round three - 02/03/21

On this week’s podcast, Vic Klatt, a principal of Penn Hill Group, joins David Griffith and Checker Finn to discuss what the latest proposed federal stimulus package would mean for America’s schools. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines how school district consolidation affects student achievement.

Feb 03, 202125 min

School Choice Week 2021 - 01/27/21

On this week’s podcast, Mike Petrilli and David Griffith are joined by Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week, which is this week, to discuss how the school choice movement has been altered by the pandemic. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines parents’ demand for childcare quality.

Jan 27, 202125 min

The education issues facing state legislatures in 2021 - 01/20/21

On this week’s podcast, Patricia Levesque, chief executive officer of ExcelinEd, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss what’s on the ed reform agenda in state legislative sessions nationwide. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines whether schools of choice are able to pull high-performing students from traditional public schools and push out low performers.

Jan 20, 202126 min

Another reason we need to test students in 2021 - 1/13/21

On this week’s podcast, Eric Parsons, associate teaching professor of economics at the University of Missouri and co-author of our new report “Bridging the Covid Divide,” joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss what he and his fellow researchers learned about measuring student achievement growth in the absence of 2020 test scores. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines the effects of a single virtual charter school on student achievement, controlling for student mobility....

Jan 13, 202125 min
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