The Education Gadfly Show
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.
The Education Gadfly Show
Transforming school systems | Episode 1028 of The Education Gadfly Show
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Mike Miles, superintendent of Houston Independent School District, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to talk about his new book, By Design: How to Transform School Systems, and how districts can use systemic thinking and accountability with support to improve schools.
Then, on the Research Minute, Brian Fitzpatrick reviews new research on how classroom context can affect teacher evaluations, and how schools can use the logic of value-added models to develop better evaluations.
Recommended content:
- By Design: How to Transform School Systems —Mike Miles
- State takeovers are back —Michael J. Petrilli, SCHOOLED
- Texas’s controversial takeover of Houston’s schools—Daniel Buck, for the Thomas B. Fordham Institute
- Classroom Composition Affects Teacher Performance Ratings —William Delgado and Lauren Sartain, EdWorkingPapers (April 2026)
Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our show? We would love to hear them. Send them to thegadfly@fordhaminstitute.org