Mike Petrilli takes the mic to consider whether America’s schools need a renewed sense of urgency around raising achievement and closing gaps. He revisits the test-based accountability era, debates whether its biggest contribution may have been less about policy mechanics and more about shifting the national “vibes,” and argues that today’s education leaders may need to be much clearer about what it means to put students first.

Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a new American Enterprise Institute report tracking post-pandemic chronic absenteeism and warning that elevated absence rates may be turning into a long-term condition.

Recommended content:

• The one where Ross gets rebuked by reformers —Michael J. Petrilli, SCHOOLED
• On NCLB, Wiener and Petrilli fight to a draw —Robert Pondiscio, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• The Impact of No Child Left Behind on Student Achievement —Thomas S. Dee and Brian A. Jacob, NBER
• From Attendance Crisis to Chronic Condition? Tracking Post-Pandemic Chronic Absenteeism into 2025 —Nat Malkus, American Enterprise Institute (2026)

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Stefanie Sanford, president of Civic Ventures at Alithi Consulting and Humanitae Philanthropy Advisors and a trustee of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, joins Mike Petrilli to discuss how America’s 250th anniversary could help renew civic life. They explore why civic formation must extend beyond the classroom, how schools can teach both the achievements and failures of American history, and what young people need in order to develop a sense of civic responsibility in an increasingly polarized and digital society.

Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a new study examining gaps in how schools are adopting artificial intelligence, including differences in training, policies, and guidance for students and teachers.

Recommended content:

• Civic Life in the Information Age —Stefanie Sanford
• Civics, citizenship, and America 250 — Chester E. Finn, Jr., Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• Civic Profile —Hoover Institution
• America at 250: Surveying Change and Continuity on Civic Values — by Karlyn Bowman and Nicole Penn, AEI
• AI Diffusion Gaps: Unequal Integration of AI Across K-12 Schools —Christopher Campos and John D. Singleton, NBER (2026)

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Charles Barone of the National Parents Union joins Mike Petrilli to debate the Senate’s bipartisan READ Act. Would additional federal funding help states strengthen teacher preparation and expand evidence-based reading instruction, or could a larger federal role politicize the science-of-reading movement and repeat the mistakes of Reading First?

Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a new study examining why tutoring’s impact on student achievement tends to shrink when programs scale up.

Recommended content:

• Is the Senate’s READ Act a Reading First redux? —Michael J. Petrilli, SCHOOLED
• The READ Act: A National Commitment to Literacy —National Parents Union
• From the Teacher’s Desk: A Science of Reading Progress Report —David Griffith and Brian Fitzpatrick, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• Too Good to Last: The True Story of Reading First —Sol Stern, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• What Impacts Should We Expect From Tutoring at Scale? Exploring Meta-Analytic Generalizability —Matthew A. Kraft, Beth E. Schuele, and Grace T. Falken, SAGE Journals (2026)

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Mike Petrilli flies solo to discuss the latest Long-Term Trend NAEP results and why the bounce-back among nine-year-olds deserves more attention. While America’s education recovery is far from complete, especially for older students, Mike argues that the rebound in reading and partial recovery in math suggest that federal dollars, tutoring, economic trends, and perhaps science of reading reforms may be helping younger students regain lost ground.

Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines new evidence from Michigan on which school attendance strategies are associated with better student outcomes.

Recommended content:

• A Surprising Sliver of Hope in New NAEP Scores for the Lowest-Performing Kids Chad Aldeman, The 74
• Declining NAEP Scores Are Flashing Red Lights for the Covid Generation —Michael J. Petrilli, EducationNext
• Anatomy of a ‘Learning Recession’: Academic Losses Began in 2013, Report Finds —Kevin Mahnken, The 74
• Experts say schools could recover pandemic losses by 2028. What then? —Jay Mathews, The Washington Post
• The Learning Legacy of Randi Weingarten —The Editorial Board, The Wall Street Journal
• Imperfect Attendance: Toward a fairer measure of student absenteeism —Jing Liu, Ph.D., Thomas B. Fordham Institute (2022)
• Identifying Effective Attendance Strategies in Michigan —Jeremy Singer, Sarah Winchell Lenhoff, and Angela Lyle, EdWorkingPapers (2026)

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Patrick McAlister, principal of PM Strategies and former director of the Indianapolis Mayor’s Office of Education Innovation, and Shaina Cavazos, the office’s current director, join The Education Gadfly Show to discuss charter growth after the replication era. Drawing on their experience with closures and mergers in Indianapolis, they explain why authorizers and charter boards may need new approaches as enrollment declines and the sector matures.

Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines new research on content rich reading instruction and finds that while teachers are using strong foundational skills curricula, students often get too few chances to build fluency and vocabulary.

Recommended content:

• Beyond Replication: What Responsible Charter Growth Looks Like Now —Jed Wallace, CharterFolk
• The 10-year test for durable schools —Robert Pondiscio, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• Do Authorizer Evaluations Predict the Success of New Charter Schools? — Adam Kho, Ph.D., Shelby Leigh Smith, and Douglas Lee Lauen, Ph.D., Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• Bridging the Divide: Connecting Word Recognition and Language Comprehension in Early Literacy —Anna Jennerjohn, Sara Rutherford-Quach, Lauren J. Cassidy, Katrina Woodworth, Sarah Dec, and Dan Reynolds, SRI (2026)

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Jonathan Plucker, a research professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Education, and Fordham’s own Alicia Anderson, policy and editorial associate, join The Education Gadfly Show to discuss new research on how little states and the federal government invest in advanced education. How much funding goes toward gifted education, AP, IB, and other advanced learning opportunities, and why is it so hard to track where those dollars go?

Then, on the Research Minute, Brian Fitzpatrick examines new research on Algebra I achievement gaps and finds that many are rooted as early as third grade and grew worse during the pandemic.

Recommended content:

• Broad support, barely funded: The paradox of advanced education in America —Jonathan Plucker, Alicia Anderson, Matthew Makel, and Shaun Dougherty for Advance
• The Leaky Pipeline: Assessing the college outcomes of Ohio’s high-achieving low-income students —Stéphane Lavertu, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• Building a Wider, More Diverse Pipeline of Advanced Learners —The National Working Group on Advanced Education
• Ohio’s Lost Einsteins: The inequitable outcomes of early high achievers —Scott Imberman, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• A Widening Chasm: The Divergent Paths of High- and Low-Achieving Students in Algebra I After the Pandemic—Benjamin Backes, Michael DeArmond, Elise Dizon-Ross, Dan Goldhaber, and Alejandra Salazar, CALDER (2026)

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Melissa Arnold Lyon joins The Education Gadfly Show to discuss Fordham’s new report, A Crowded Table: Teacher Union Strength in 2026, and what has changed in state education politics since Fordham’s 2012 analysis of teacher union power. How influential are teacher unions today, where are they strongest, and what does a more crowded political landscape mean for education policy?

Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines new research on the Common Core State Standards and their effects on achievement beyond math and English language arts.

Recommended content:

• A Crowded Table: Teacher Union Strength in 2026 —Melissa Arnold Lyon, Sandy Frost Waldron, and Rebecca Jacobsen, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• How Strong Are U.S. Teacher Unions? A State-By-State Comparison —Amber M. Northern, Ph.D., Janie Scull, and Dara Zeehandelaar Shaw, Ph.D., Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• Teachers’ Unions and Collective Bargaining —Bradley D. Marianno, Live Handbook: Education Policy Research, an initiative of AEFP
• The unintended effects of the Common Core State Standards on non-targeted subjects — Benjamin W. Arold, and M. Danish Shakeel, ScienceDirect (2026)

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On this week’s solo episode of The Education Gadfly Show, Mike Petrilli discusses President Trump’s Education Freedom Tax Credit, including how it works, why he has concerns about its design, and why he still thinks states, including blue states, should opt in. Could the program help Catholic schools and expand scholarships for low-income families, or will it mostly benefit upper-middle-class parents and well-connected schools?

Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines new research on whether full-day pre-K affects English learner identification in elementary school, especially for children from non-English-speaking households.

Recommended content: 

• Trump’s education tax credit is poorly designed, but blue states should opt into it anyway — Michael J. Petrilli, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• New York plans to accept the federal tax credit. Should we celebrate? —Michael J. Petrilli, SCHOOLED
• The bipartisan opt-in chorus grows louder —Michael J. Petrilli, SCHOOLED
• Effect of Full- Versus Half-Day Pre-K on Grade K–3 English Language Learner Designations — Katharine Parham Malhotra and Allison Atteberry, Sage Journals (2026)

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Arkansas Education Secretary Jacob Oliva joins The Education Gadfly Show to discuss the sweeping Arkansas LEARNS reforms, from early literacy and teacher pay to career pathways, parent empowerment, and new approaches to teacher preparation. Why did Arkansas take on so much at once, and can it support teachers, empower districts, and maintain high standards along the way?

Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines new research on Indiana charter schools’ post-pandemic academic recovery, especially for Black, Hispanic, low-income, and previously low-performing students.

Recommended content:

• ExcelinEd 2026 Poll Findings —ExcelinEd
• Raising the Floor: Teacher Retention Effects of a Statewide Minimum Salary Increase —Gema Zamarro, Andrew M. Camp, Josh McGee, Taylor Wilson, and Miranda Vernon, CALDER (2026)
• What happens when you relax accountability —Michael J. Petrilli, SCHOOLED
• Virtual Illusion: Comparing Student Achievement and Teacher and Classroom Characteristics in Online and Brick-and-Mortar Charter Schools —Brian R. Fitzpatrick, Mark Berends, Joseph J. Ferrare, and R. Joseph Waddington, Educational Researcher (2020)
• Indiana Charter School Performance During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic —Ron Zimmer, Stephen M. Ponisciak, Mark Berends, Julie W. Dallavis, Joseph J. Ferrare, Adam Kho, Shelby L. Smith, and Joseph Waddington, EdWorking Papers (2026)

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Christy Wolfe, director of K–12 policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, joins the Education Gadfly Show to discuss a new report on the American workforce—and what it means for K–12 education. As policymakers call for a clearer national talent strategy, which ideas echo past reforms, what’s genuinely new, and should school improvement efforts shift from individual schools to districts?

Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern looks at what happens when schools lock up student phones—and the results may surprise you.

Recommended content:

• A Nation at Risk to a Nation at Work —Bipartisan Policy Center
• Reimagining School Improvement: What are Portfolio Districts? —Christy Wolfe and Robin Chait, Bipartisan Policy Center
• State takeovers are back —Michael J. Petrilli, SCHOOLED
• Reformers: Yes, states should intervene in failing districts —Michael J. Petrilli, SCHOOLED
• The Effects of School Phone Bans: National Evidence from Lockable Pouches —Hunt Allcott, E. Jason Baron, Thomas Dee, Angela L. Duckworth, Matthew Gentzkow and Brian Jacob, NBER (2026)

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