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.
Episodes
509 episodes
Beyond test scores: Debating how to measure school quality | Episode 988 of The Education Gadfly Show
This week, Fordham’s president emeritus Checker Finn and Laura Hamilton of the Center for Assessment join us for a polite debate on whether school quality should be judged by more than test scores.On the Research Minute, Adam Tyner unpac...
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Episode 988
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32:22
Joyful classrooms, but zero public transparency: Inside an ESA micro-school | Episode 987 of The Education Gadfly Show
This week, Chandler Fritz, author of Harper’s Magazine’s cover story The Homemade Scholar, shares what he discovered when teaching in an ESA-funded micro-school—including a lackluster curriculum but undeniably joyful kids.On the...
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Episode 987
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39:30
On the negative NAEP news, and the real reason screen time is hurting student learning | Episode 986 of The Education Gadfly Show
This week, Mike Petrilli digs into the latest NAEP results—and explores whether the rise of smartphones and social media might help explain them. It’s another solo episode, just Mike and the mic.On the Research Minute, Adam Tyner shares ...
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Episode 986
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31:48
School choice, regulation, and Democrats’ defense of public schools, with Ashley Jochim | Episode 985 of The Education Gadfly Show
Ashley Jochim, principal at the Center on Reinventing Public Education and mom of four, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith on the Education Gadfly Show to continue our debate on private school choice and regulation. She also discusses how D...
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Episode 985
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38:56
Innovation, regulation, and school choice, with Mike McShane | Episode 984 of The Education Gadfly Show
Mike McShane, Director of National Research for EdChoice, joins us on the Education Gadfly Show to debate tradeoffs when it comes to regulation and innovation in the charter school and private school choice sectors.Then, on the Research ...
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39:21
Managing district budgets during uncertain times, with Jonathan Travers | Episode 983 of The Education Gadfly Show
ERS president and managing partner Jonathan Travers joins Mike Petrilli on The Education Gadfly Show to talk about school district budgeting during uncertain times.Then, on the Research Minute, Adam Tyner shares a new r...
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Episode 983
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34:22
Should all state-funded schools take state standardized tests? | Episode 982 of The Education Gadfly Show
On this week’s solo episode, Mike shares his thoughts on whether it’s ever okay to let schools opt out of state standardized tests and use nationally normed assessments instead. Then, on a special Research Minute, Fordham’s...
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Episode 982
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33:30
Education policy and climate change | Episode 981 of The Education Gadfly Show
This week, Matthew Kraft, professor of education and economics at Brown University, joins The Education Gadfly Show to discuss the intersection of education policy and climate change.Then, on the Research Minute, Adam T...
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Episode 981
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41:23
#980: Can education reform help Democrats win again? with Ben Austin
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show, Ben Austin, Founding Director of Education Civil Rights Now, joins us to discuss why the Democratic Party lost its way on education policy—and what it must do to rebuild credibility and improve its...
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Episode 980
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32:53
#979: Is too much democracy hamstringing our schools? with Vlad Kogan
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show, Vlad Kogan—professor and director of undergraduate studies at The Ohio State University—joins us to discuss his forthcoming book, No Adult Left Behind: How Politics Hijacks Education Policy and...
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Episode 979
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31:01
#978: Mike on the mic: Regulation in school choice programs
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show, Mike returns for another solo episode, reflecting on the role of regulation in school choice—is it stifling innovation or saving us from bad schools?Then, on the Research Minute, Adam covers a study ...
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35:37
#977: New law, new questions for school choice, with Brian Jodice
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show, Brian Jodice, National Press Secretary for the American Federation for Children joins us for a lively debate on the federal school choice provision embedded in the newly enacted “One Big Beautiful Bill”—inc...
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Episode 977
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35:38
#976: A new hub for smarter education policy, with Doug Harris
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Doug Harris, director of the National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice (REACH), joins us to discuss a new website aimed at advancing evidence-based education po...
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39:31
#975: Mike on the mic: On “discrimination” and demagoguery
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Mike flies solo to reflect on what’s happening across the education reform landscape—from the private school choice debate to the question of whether education reform has successfully scaled....
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Episode 975
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35:04
#974: The Risks of the Educational Choice for Children Act, with Jon Valant
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Jon Valant —director of the Brown Center on Education Policy and a senior fellow in Governance Studies at Brookings—joins Mike to discuss his recent analysis of the federal tax credit scholarship in...
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Episode 974
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31:26
#973: Debunking the teacher experience myth, with Linda Darling-Hammond and Anne Podolsky
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Linda Darling-Hammond and Anne Podolsky of the Learning Policy Institute—authors of our latest Think Again brief, “Do the Returns to Teacher Experience Fizzle Out?”—join Mike and David to discuss wh...
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Episode 973
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27:17
#972: Indiana’s charter strategy: A red-state roadmap? with Brandon Brown
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Brandon Brown, CEO of The Mind Trust, joins Mike to explain why charter school advocates keep winning in red states—and how others might follow Indiana’s lead. Then, on the Research Minute, Adam sha...
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Episode 972
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28:14
#971: A “Quality Check” on school accountability, with Tom Toch and Lynn Olson
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Tom Toch, director of FutureEd, and Lynn Olson, former deputy director at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, join Mike and David to discuss Lynn’s new paper, “Quality Check: The New, Best Way to...
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Episode 971
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41:23
#970: Big moves in the Lone Star state: ESAs come to Texas, with Genevieve Collins
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Genevieve Collins, Texas State Director for Americans for Prosperity, joins us to discuss Texas’s newly passed Education Savings Account bill—an ambitious policy that could position the Lone Star St...
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Episode 970
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32:19
#969: Charters, church, and the Court with Starlee Coleman
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Starlee Coleman, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, joins Mike and David to discuss the religious charter schools case currently before the U. S. Supreme Court. T...
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Episode 969
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35:33
#968: Are school inspections the accountability tool we’ve overlooked? with Erik Robelen
#968: Are school inspections the accountability tool we’ve overlooked? with Erik RobelenOn this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, former Education Week reporter Erik Robelen joins Mike and David to discuss school inspections—w...
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Episode 968
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35:09
#967: Mississippi’s secret? Twenty years of persistence and progress, with Rachel Canter
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Rachel Canter, the founding executive director of Mississippi First and the new director of education policy at the Progressive Policy Institute, joins Mike and David to discuss what really fueled M...
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Episode 967
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38:49
#966: Is calculus king? Rethinking math pathways, with Matt Giani
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Matt Giani, professor and researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, joins Mike and David to discuss whether there’s a one-size-fits-all math pathway for students, as explored in Calculus ...
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Episode 966
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35:06
#965: Understanding ESSA Waivers, with Anne Hyslop
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Anne Hyslop, Director of Policy Development at All4Ed, joins Mike and David to discuss the evolving federal role in K–12 education—particularly how the Secretary of Education’s waiver authority may—...
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Episode 965
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39:10
#964: Why states should keep testing, with Scott Marion
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Scott Marion, Executive Director of the Center for Assessment, joins Mike and David to discuss why states should maintain annual assessments—even if the Trump Administration waives some federal test...
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Episode 964
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34:05