On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Mike Petrilli and David Griffith are joined by Stéphane Lavertu and Long Tran, both professors at the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at the Ohio State University and the authors of Fordham’s new report, For-Profit Charter Schools: An evaluation of their spending and outcomes . They discuss findings from their new study and broader issues of so-called “for-profit” charter schools. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews an ambi...
Sep 28, 2022•25 min•Ep. 839
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Karega Rausch, President and CEO of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss what—if anything—charter schools could have done to reopen sooner during the 2020-21 school year. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern discusses the long-term impacts of requiring high school seniors to pass a science test to graduate. Recommended Content: · Karega’s essay for The 74: “ High-Quality Cha...
Sep 21, 2022•28 min
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show Podcast, Elliot Regenstein joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss his new book, which calls for changes in three areas of education policy: accountability, teacher pay, and school choice. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern discusses a paper that identifies common transportation challenges for cities with lots of charter schools and other forms of school choice. Recommended content: · Elliot’s new book: Education Restated: Getting Policy R...
Sep 14, 2022•27 min•Ep. 837
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show Podcast, John Bailey, nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, joins Mike Petrilli to discuss what schools are likely to do—and what they should do—if hit by more Covid waves this year. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a study that examines whether private schools that participate in voucher programs “cream skim” high achieving students and/or push out more challenging ones. Recommended Content: Bree Dusseault: “ Sch...
Sep 07, 2022•21 min
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, David Houston, assistant professor at George Mason University and survey director of the Education Next Poll, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss the relationship between political partisanship and public opinion on education issues. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a study on the impact of the Broad Superintendents Academy, a program that trains non-educators to lead urban school systems. Recommended content: · Davi...
Aug 31, 2022•27 min•Ep. 835
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Mike Petrilli and David Griffith are joined by Matt Giani, a professor and researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, and the author of Fordham’s new report, How Attaining Industry-Recognized Credentials in High School Shapes Education and Employment Outcomes. They discuss some takeaways of the first-of-its-kind study. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a paper examining whether schools where students make rapid academic progr...
Aug 24, 2022•29 min•Ep. 834
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Checker Finn joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss his article (co-authored with Rick Hess) in National Affairs about the bipartisan history—and uncertain future—of school reform. Then on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a study on how politicized issues like Covid-19 safety measures and Critical Race Theory are affecting principals and teachers. Recommended content: · Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Frederick M. Hess’s article: “ The...
Aug 17, 2022•26 min
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show Podcast, Heather Peske, president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, joins Mike Petrilli to discuss whether the “teacher shortage” is real, what might be causing it, and whether lowering barriers to entry to the classroom is a good idea. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a study that examines demographic disparities in students identified for gifted services, and whether a school-wide curricular intervention for early elementary ca...
Aug 10, 2022•32 min•Ep. 832
Our host Mike Petrilli is on vacation this week, so we're republishing our most popular podcast episode for three years running. With over one thousand downloads, “The impact of urban charter schools,” will be our topic of discussion for today. We'll be back to our regular schedule next week. Feedback welcome: Have any feedback on our podcast? Send them to our podcast producers Pedro Enamorado at penamorado@fordhaminstitute.org or Lilly Sibel at lsibel@fordhaminstitute.org ....
Aug 03, 2022•27 min•Ep. 831
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show Podcast, Lindsay Dworkin and Karyn Lewis, senior vice president of policy and advocacy and director of the center for school and student progress at NWEA, respectively, join Mike Petrilli to discuss Karyn’s co-authored research brief on student achievement following Covid-19. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a survey of district administrators on teacher shortages, student and staff mental health, and pandemic-connected learning loss. Reco...
Jul 27, 2022•22 min•Ep. 830
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Mike Cohen, former president of Achieve, and Laura Slover, CEO of CenterPoint Education Solutions, join Mike Petrilli to discuss their paper on the future of standards-based school reform, as well as Chester Finn’s and Dale Chu’s responses to it. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a study on how different concentrations in high school career-technical programs affect participants’ college majors. Recommended Content: Michael Cohen a...
Jul 20, 2022•26 min
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Matt Beienburg, Director of Education Policy at the Goldwater Institute, joins Mike Petrilli to discuss a new Arizona law that allows any school-aged child to use a taxpayer-funded savings account to pay for private school—or any other educational expense. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a study on whether a content-rich literacy intervention improves third graders’ reading comprehension. Recommended Content: Matt Beienburg, “ In...
Jul 13, 2022•24 min•Ep. 828
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Daniel Buck, a teacher and a Fordham senior visiting fellow, joins Mike Petrilli to discuss “no zeroes” grading policies and why he thinks they’re the worst of all worlds. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a study on how high-stakes testing affects teacher turnover and the distribution of teachers across grades and schools. Recommended content: •Daniel Buck’s first Fordham post arguing against these policies, which launched a subse...
Jul 06, 2022•21 min•Ep. 827
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, we present the sixth edition of our Research Deep Dive series. Jonathan Plucker, professor at Johns Hopkins University and past president of the National Association for Gifted Children, joins Mike Petrilli to discuss how gifted education has become a hot political topic, how to identify students who need gifted services, what those services should look like, the debate over tracking versus ability grouping, and the research on exam schools. Also che...
Jun 30, 2022•35 min
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Mike Goldstein, founder of Match Education in Boston, a college prep charter school with an embedded Graduate School of Education, discusses his prediction that learning losses will continue without a bold plan to reengage students, teachers, and parents, and address misbehavior. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a study on how developmental outcomes are affected by gender differences in how children spend their time. Recommended c...
Jun 22, 2022•25 min
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Dr. Dana Suskind, a pediatric surgeon and founder of the TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health at the University of Chicago, discusses how social supports for low-income and working-class parents equalize opportunities for their young children later in life. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews two studies on whether there’s bias in ability grouping within kindergarten classrooms. Recommended content: Dr. Suskind’s new book, P...
Jun 15, 2022•30 min
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Tom Kane, Harvard economist and director of its Center for Education Policy Research, explains the latest research on the disastrous—and inequitable—impact of remote learning on America’s students. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a study on whether Black and Hispanic children with disabilities are placed in special education classrooms at greater rates than their peers. Recommended content: Kane’s op-ed in The Atlantic : “ Kids A...
Jun 08, 2022•25 min
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Checker Finn, the Fordham Institute’s president emeritus and a distinguished senior fellow, discusses recommendations for the National Assessment of Educational Progress from his new book, Assessing the Nation’s Report Card . Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a study on how a performance-based teacher pay policy in the U.K. impacted personnel decisions and student outcomes. Recommended content: Checker’s new book, Assessing the Nat...
Jun 01, 2022•20 min
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Virginia Secretary of Education Aimee Rogstad Guidera discusses Governor Glenn Youngkin’s and her vision for education outlined in a state report titled Our Commitment to Virginians: High Expectations and Excellence for All Students . Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a study on efforts to improve the identification of gifted students in rural communities. Recommended content: The policy paper referenced: Our Commitment to Virginia...
May 24, 2022•26 min
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Robert Pondiscio, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and senior visiting fellow here at Fordham, discusses his wariness about social-emotional learning but rebuts the claim that it’s a “Trojan horse” for critical race theory. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a study on how well teachers understand their pension plans. Recommended content: Robert’s piece on SEL: “ No, social and emotional learning is not a “Tr...
May 18, 2022•21 min
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Ashley Jochim, a principal at the Center on Reinventing Public Education, joins Mike Petrilli to discuss her research on pandemic learning pods, what parents and educators liked about them, and whether they might outlive the Covid emergency. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a study of how New York City’s charter schools are affecting diversity in traditional public schools. Recommended content: Ashley’s February 2022 report: Crisi...
May 11, 2022•25 min
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Kate Walsh, who just finished a twenty-year run leading the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), joins Mike Petrilli to discuss America’s progress (and the lack thereof) on the teacher effectiveness front over the past two decades. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a study finding that an AI-capable chatbot improved student college course performance, especially for first-generation students. Recommended content: Kate’s refl...
May 04, 2022•22 min
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Doug Lemov, author of Teach Like a Champion, and co-managing director of the organization of the same name, joins Mike Petrilli to discuss his forthcoming book, Reconnect: Building School Culture for Meaning, Purpose, And Belonging . Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a study in Tennessee providing fresh evidence that high-performing schools can raise housing prices. Recommended content: Doug’s forthcoming book: Reconnect: Building ...
Apr 27, 2022•22 min
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast , Jing Liu, Assistant Professor in Education Policy at the University of Maryland College Park and author of our latest study, Imperfect Attendance: Toward a fairer measure of student absenteeism , joins Mike Petrilli to discuss its findings, the notion of “attendance value-added,” and how improving school safety could help keep kids in class. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern looks at what happened when Massachusetts labeled half its stude...
Apr 20, 2022•19 min
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast , Paul Hill, founder of the Center on Reinventing Public Education and emeritus professor at the University of Washington Bothell, joins Mike Petrilli and Checker Finn to debate recent reform setbacks in Denver, and whether they prove that portfolio districts are doomed. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern shares good news from a study examining the intersection of gifted education and segregation. Recommended content: Checker’s case for why ...
Apr 13, 2022•24 min
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast (listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify ), Christy Wolfe, vice president for policy and planning at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, joins Mike Petrilli to discuss how new regulations proposed by the Biden administration could stunt the growth of charter schools across America. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines a survey of student reading habits in grades K–12. You can find this and every episode on all major podcast...
Apr 06, 2022•24 min
This week’s Education Gladfly Show podcast is a Research Minute–only special! Amber Northern examines a survey of district and charter network leaders about staffing challenges they’ve faced this school year—and true to the segment’s name, tries her mightiest to do so in under sixty seconds. Will she succeed? Listen to find out. (April Fools episode!) Related Content “ Young Cattle Auctioneer Champion ,” America’s Heartland, YouTube (December 12, 2012). “ Talking Fast With a Record-Setting Speed...
Apr 01, 2022•2 min
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast (listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify ), Rick Hess, Senior Fellow and Director of Education Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute and the cohost of the “Common Ground” podcast, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss how to advance an ed reform agenda in the midst of ongoing culture wars. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern discusses a study on housing affordability’s impact on student outcomes. You can find this and e...
Mar 30, 2022•28 min
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast (listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify ), Mike Petrilli, David Griffith, and Victoria McDougald discuss Follow the Science to School: Evidence-based Practices for Elementary Education , a new book that Mike edited with Kathleen Carroll and Barbara Davidson. They talk about the promise of evidence-based practices, the importance of elementary education, and the centrality of high-quality instructional materials. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber North...
Mar 23, 2022•22 min
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast (listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify ), April Wells, Gifted Coordinator in Illinois School District U-46 and author of Achieving Equity in Gifted Programming: Dismantling Barriers and Tapping Potential , joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss how her district scouts for talented students early on, and from all backgrounds. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines a survey of district and charter network leaders about staffing ...
Mar 16, 2022•24 min
