The Education Gadfly Show

By Thomas B. Fordham Institute

Education

What's The Education Gadfly Show about?

For more than a decade, 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, Andrew Scanlan.

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LAST EPISODE

The education issues facing...

01.20.2021

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...

The Education Gadfly Show episodes:

01.20.2021 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...
01.13.2021 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...
01.06.2021 What does Miguel Cardona’s time in Connecticut imply about his future in Washington? - 01/06/21 On this week’s podcast, Subira Gordon, executive director of Connecticut’s ConnCAN, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss President-elect Biden’s education secretary nominee, Miguel Cardona, and his work in the Nutmeg State. On the Research...
12.16.2020 Emily Oster and Noelle Ellerson Ng answer the big question: Will schools reopen this spring? - 12/16/20 On this week’s podcast, Noelle Ellerson Ng, associate executive director at AASA, the School Superintendents Association, and Emily Oster, Professor of Economics at Brown University, join Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss whether the vaccines...
12.09.2020 Assessing Joe Biden’s early childhood plans - 12/09/20 On this week’s podcast, Katharine Stevens, visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss President-elect Biden’s childcare and pre-K plans. On the Research Minute, Adam Tyner examines how...
12.02.2020 The legacy of Lamar Alexander - 12/02/20 On this week’s podcast, Mike Petrilli and David Griffith are joined by Checker Finn, who discusses Senator Lamar Alexander’s K–12 education legacy. On the Research Minute, Adam Tyner examines research on why efforts to boost student motivation may be...
11.18.2020 State budget cuts and our schools - 11/18/20 On this week’s podcast, ExcelinEd’s Matthew Joseph and The Education Trust’s Zahava Stadler join Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss how states can protect schools and disadvantaged students from budget cuts. On the Research Minute, Victoria...
11.11.2020 Why public education may never return to normal - 11/11/20 On this week’s podcast, Paul Hill, founder of the Center on Reinventing Public Education, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss why, thanks to the pandemic, the politics of public schools will never be the same. On the Research ...
11.06.2020 What the election means for education reform - 11/5/20 On this week’s podcast, Charles Barone, VP of K-12 Policy at Democrats for Education Reform, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss what the election means for charter schools, accountability, and other reform issues. On the Research Minute,...
10.28.2020 Coping with the costs of declining enrollments - 10/28/20 On this week’s podcast, Karen Hawley Miles, CEO and president of Education Resource Strategies, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss her chapter in Getting the Most Bang for the Education Buck on how school districts can cope with ...
10.21.2020 The loathsome war on exam schools - 10/21/20 On this week’s podcast, Fordham’s Checker Finn joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss the growing, misguided war on selective-admissions high schools. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines how community college credentials affect...
10.14.2020 Lemov and Woolway on teaching like a champion—online - 10/14/20 On this week’s podcast, Mike Petrilli and David Griffith are joined by Doug Lemov and Erica Woolway, co-managing director and chief academic officer, respectively, of the Teach Like a Champion team at Uncommon Schools. They talk about their timely new...
10.07.2020 Reading comprehension is not a skill, and other lessons from Fordham’s latest study - 10/07/20 On this week’s podcast, Fordham’s Adam Tyner joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss the new study that he coauthored, “Social Studies Instruction and Reading Comprehension: Evidence from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study.” On the...
09.30.2020 How to open a school safely during a pandemic - 09/30/20 On this week’s podcast, Aaron Daly, COO of Brooklyn Laboratory Charter Schools, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss the network’s innovative reopening recommendations. On the Research Minute, Adam Tyner examines the long-term ramifications...
09.23.2020 How the pandemic could lead to smarter school spending - 09/23/20 On this week’s podcast, Brandon Wright joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss his and Rick Hess’s new edited volume, Getting the Most Bang for the Education Buck. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines whether community crime...
09.16.2020 How did those online summer camps go? - 09/16/20 On this week’s podcast, Timothy Daly, co-founder and CEO of EdNavigator, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss Camp Kinda, a free online summer resource that was designed to keep students engaged and curious while they were stuck at ...
09.09.2020 Two years after Janus, why are teachers unions stronger than ever? - 09/09/20 On this week’s podcast, Colin Sharkey, executive director of the Association of American Educators, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss the state of teachers unions two years after Janus v. AFSCME, the Supreme Court case that prevents...
09.02.2020 The politics of school reopenings - 09/02/20 On this week’s podcast, Robin Lake, director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education, joins Mike Petrilli to discuss why politics seems to be a bigger factor in some school reopening decisions than science. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern...
08.26.2020 How America’s best charter schools crushed the Covid-19 challenge - 08/26/20 On this week’s podcast, Gregg Vanourek joins Mike Petrilli to discuss Fordham’s new report that Gregg authored, Schooling Covid-19: Lessons from leading charter networks from their transition to remote learning. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern...
08.19.2020 On Biden’s education platform - 08/19/20 On this week’s podcast, Tressa Pankovits, associate director of Reinventing America's Schools at the Progressive Policy Institute, joins Mike Petrilli and Olivia Piontek to discuss education platforms in the presidential election campaign. On the...
08.12.2020 What about outdoor classes this fall? - 08/12/20 On this week’s podcast, Erin Einhorn, a national reporter for NBC News, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to talk about her recent piece on outdoor classrooms. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines how online classes have affected high...
08.05.2020 Another reason for more school autonomy - 8/5/20 On this week’s podcast, David Osborne, director of the Reinventing America’s Schools Project at the Progressive Policy Institute, joins Checker Finn and David Griffith to talk about how schools can be given autonomy to adapt to students’ varying needs...
07.29.2020 Should districts outsource virtual learning? - 07/29/20 On this week’s podcast, Rob Kremer, director of government relations at Pearson, owner of Connections Academy, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss whether school districts should be trying to build online schools on their own or should...
07.22.2020 NAEP’s flawed reading revamp - 07/22/20 On this week’s podcast, Checker Finn and David Griffith discuss the flawed effort to revamp NAEP’s reading framework. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern and David Griffith examine how inequality has affected families’ engagement with online learning...
07.15.2020 What the coronavirus resurgence means for reopening schools - 07/15/20 On this week’s podcast, Mike Petrilli and David Griffith discuss whether and how schools should reopen in the fall. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines whether the least educated population groups experienced the worst mortality trends...
07.08.2020 Why fall testing could do more harm than good - 07/08/20 On this week’s podcast, Mora Segal, CEO of Achievement Network, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss the organization’s latest guidance on assessments for states and districts when school resumes in the fall. On the Research Minute, Amber...
07.01.2020 How assessment data can drive instruction this fall - 07/01/20 On this week’s podcast, Mike Petrilli, Amber Northern, Tran Le, and David Griffith discuss Fordham’s new case study on data-driven instruction in Washington, D.C. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines little interruptions’ big effect on...
06.24.2020 The case for good schools as a state constitutional right - 06/24/20 On this week’s podcast, Nina Rees, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss her new AEI paper, “A constitutional right to a high-quality public education.” On the Research...
06.17.2020 Effecting real change in America - 06/17/20 On this week’s podcast, Checker Finn, Mike Petrilli, and David Griffith discuss what it takes for real change to happen in America. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines whether student outcomes improve when college faculty engage with...
06.10.2020 School districts failed the remote learning test - 6/10/20 On this week’s podcast, Robin Lake, director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education, talks with Mike Petrilli and David Griffith about how well school districts handled remote learning this spring. On the Research Minute, Olivia Piontek joins...
06.03.2020 The crisis’s outsized impacts on Catholic schools - 06/03/20 On this week’s podcast, Michael McShane, the director of national research at EdChoice, joins Mike Petrilli to discuss how Catholic schools are weathering the pandemic and economic downturn and what public policy can do to help. On the Research Minute,...
05.27.2020 The link between location and income - 05/27/20 This week’s podcast guest is John V. Winters, Ph.D., associate professor of economics at Iowa State University and author of Fordham’s new report, What You Make Depends on Where You Live. He joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss ...
05.19.2020 Teacher to Chief: Pathways to Education Leadership - 05/20/20 This week we're hosting "Teacher to Chief," a special episode with members of Chiefs for Change on their pathways to education leadership. The discussion is tied to a new multimedia report designed to spark teachers’ interest in the chief...
05.13.2020 What Americans think about schools’ response to the Covid crisis - 05/13/20 On this week’s podcast, Paul DiPerna, vice president of research and innovation at EdChoice, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss his organization’s new monthly Public Opinion Tracker. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines how...
05.06.2020 A blueprint for reopening schools - 05/06/20 On this week’s podcast, John Bailey, visiting fellow at AEI, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss AEI’s new Blueprint for Back to School. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern and special guest Paul von Hippel, associate professor of...
04.29.2020 Schools and social distancing: Just hard, or actually impossible? - 04/29/20 On this week’s podcast, Noelle Ellerson Ng, associate executive director of advocacy and governance at AASA, the School Superintendents Association, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss the complexities that school systems must consider...
04.22.2020 The one where the pandemic turns Robert into a big softie - 04/22/20 On this week’s podcast, Mike Petrilli, Robert Pondiscio, and David Griffith debate how much we can expect districts to do during the current crisis, whether student work should be graded right now, and if schools will return to normal in ...
04.15.2020 How schools can personalize instruction when students return next fall - 04/15/20 On this week’s podcast, Diane Tavenner, co-founder and CEO of Summit Public Schools, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to offer advice on how schools can help meet students’ individual needs when they return after lengthy closures. On the Research...
04.08.2020 Research Deep Dive: The impact of school closures On this week’s podcast, Deven Carlson, assistant professor of political science at the University of Oklahoma, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith for the third installment of our Research Deep Dive series, this one focusing on the impact of school ...
04.08.2020 Research Deep Dive: The impact of school closures - 04/08/20 On this week’s podcast, Deven Carlson, assistant professor of political science at the University of Oklahoma, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith for the third installment of our Research Deep Dive series, this one focusing on the impact school...
04.02.2020 How school districts are dealing with COVID-19 - 04/02/20 On this week’s podcast, Robin Lake, director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE), joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss district innovation in the face of country-wide school closures. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern...
04.02.2020 How school districts are dealing with COVID-19 On this week’s podcast, Robin Lake, director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE), joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss district innovation in the face of country-wide school closures. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines whether ...
03.25.2020 COVID-19 concerns: Special education and accountability - 03/25/20 On this week’s podcast, Mike Petrilli and Checker Finn discuss Betsy DeVos’s quick and laudable U-turn on distance learning and mull what “accountability” might look like over the next three months. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines the...
03.25.2020 COVID-19 concerns: Special education and accountability On this week’s podcast, Mike Petrilli and Checker Finn discuss Betsy DeVos’s quick and laudable U-turn on distance learning and mull what “accountability” might look like over the next three months. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines the role ...
03.11.2020 On technocrats and culture wars On this week’s podcast, Mike Petrilli, Checker Finn, and David Griffith discuss Mike and Checker’s new edited volume, How to Educate an American: The Conservative Vision for Tomorrow’s Schools. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines whether the nationwide rise ...
03.11.2020 On technocrats and culture wars - 03/11/20 On this week’s podcast, Mike Petrilli, Checker Finn, and David Griffith discuss Mike and Checker’s new edited volume, How to Educate an American: The Conservative Vision for Tomorrow’s Schools. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines...
03.04.2020 Heavens to Betsy's block grant - 03/04/20 On this week’s podcast, Nina Rees, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss the Trump administration’s proposal to block-grant the federal Charter Schools Program. On the...
03.04.2020 Heavens to Betsy's block grant On this week’s podcast, Nina Rees, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss the Trump administration’s proposal to block-grant the federal Charter Schools Program. On the Research Minute, ...
02.26.2020 Community schools and disadvantaged families - 02/26/20 On this week’s podcast, William Johnston, associate policy researcher at the RAND Corporation, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss the positive impacts of New York City’s community schools. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines...
02.26.2020 Community schools and disadvantaged families On this week’s podcast, William Johnston, associate policy researcher at the RAND Corporation, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss the positive impacts of New York City’s community schools. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines how expanding private ...

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