The Education Gadfly Show

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Starlee Coleman, newly named President and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, joins Mike and David to discuss how the charter sector can find success with a Trump or Harris presidency. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber reports on a study of how nearby charter schools impact Catholic school enrollment.

Recommended content: 

• “How Kamala Harris can move to the center on education”— Michael J. Petrilli 
• “What could a Vice President Vance do to advance rural and small town education?”—Aaron Churchill
• “Will next month’s Harris-Trump debate even mention education?”— Dale Chu
• Shaun M. Dougherty, Andrew Miller, and Yerin Yoon, “Charter School Expansion, Catholic School Enrollment, & the Equity Implications of School Choice,” EdWorkingPaper 24-1027, Annenberg Institute at Brown University (2024)

Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to Stephanie Distler at [email protected].

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Kelly James, a partner at Education First Consulting and Fordham’s 2024 Wonkathon winner, joins Mike and David to discuss how policymakers and practitioners can reduce chronic absenteeism in schools. Then, on the Research Minute, Adam reports on a study about the fiscal effects of states paying districts for the costs of students they no longer serve.  

Recommended content: 

• “‘Everything, everywhere, all at once’ solutions to chronic absenteeism”—Kelly James and Brad Bernatek 
• “To fix chronic absenteeism, we must ask why kids don’t want to go to school” —Leslie Colwell
• “How does teacher experience impact student absenteeism in early elementary school?” —Heena Kuwayama
• Aaron Garth Smith and Christian Barnard, “Billions: The Cost of State Hold Harmless Policies in K-12 Education,” Reason Foundation, (June 2024)

Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to Stephanie Distler at [email protected].

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Othiniel Mahone, the principal at GEO Academies 21st Century School in Gary, Indiana, joins Mike and David to discuss effective strategies for implementing and enforcing an “away for the day” school cellphone policy. Then, on the Research Minute, Adam reports on a study about the impact of middle school principals on various long-term outcomes for students.

Recommended content: 

• “How to implement a cellphone ban in schools” —Amber M. Northern, Ph.D., Fordham Institute
• “LAUSD approves cellphone ban as Newsom calls for statewide action” —Howard Blume and Defne Karabatur, Los Angeles Times
• “New York City Schools Should Be Next to Ban Mobile Phones” —Michael R. Bloomberg, Bloomberg
• Eric A. Hanushek, Andrew J. Morgan, Steven G. Rivkin, Jeffrey C. Schiman, Ayman Shakeel, and Lauren Sartain, “The Lasting Impacts of Middle School Principals,” NBER Working Paper No. 32642 (July 2024) 

Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to Stephanie Distler at [email protected].

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Fordham’s Checker Finn joins Mike and David to discuss the changes in how the College Board is scoring Advanced Placement exams. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber reports on a meta-analysis examining the effectiveness of robot-assisted foreign language learning.

Recommended content: 

•  “Are AP exams getting easier?” —Chester E. Finn, Jr.
•  “The Great Recalibration of AP exams” —John Moscatiello
• “The College Board’s new method for raising AP scores” —John Moscatiello
• Ali Derakhshan, Timothy Teo, Esmaeel Saeedy Robat, Mostafa Janebi Enayat, and Akbar A. Jahanbakhsh, “Robot-Assisted Language Learning: A Meta-Analysis,” Review of Educational Research (May 2024).

Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to Stephanie Distler at [email protected].

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Vlad Kogan, a professor at Ohio State University, joins Mike and David to discuss what role race, achievement, and enrollment play in a district’s decision to close a school. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber examines a new report that investigates the staffing difficulties and potential academic effects of class size reduction policies in New York City.

Recommended content: 

• “Flawed work to close city schools will hurt Columbus for years to come. It must be fixed.” —Vlad Kogan, The Columbus Dispatch
• “Schools Will Have to Start Closing Again” —Michael Petrilli, Wall Street Journal
• “Enrollment down. Achievement lackluster. Should this school close?” —Francis Pearman, Education Week
• Matthew Chingos, Ariella Meltzer, and Jay Carter, “Will implementing class size caps exacerbate hiring challenges in New York City’s highest-poverty schools?,” Urban Institute (July 2024).

Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to Stephanie Distler at [email protected].

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Dale Chu, a senior visiting fellow at the Fordham Institute, joins Mike and David to discuss how Biden passing the torch and Trump picking J.D. Vance could affect U.S. school policy. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber examines a new study that compares the academic impacts of urban versus suburban charter schools.

Recommended content: 

• “Vance vs. Pence: How Trump’s VP picks compare on education” —Dale Chu, Fordham Institute
• “The Democratic replacement candidates on education” —Daniel Buck, Fordham Institute
• Sarah Cohodes and Astrid Pineda, “Diverse paths to college success: The impact of Massachusetts’ urban and nonurban charter schools on college trajectories,” National Bureau of Economic Research (July 2024).

Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to Daniel Buck at [email protected].

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Francis Pearman, an assistant professor of education at Stanford University, joins Mike and David to debate the impact that budgets, enrollment, and race play in closing schools. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber examines a new study investigating the efficacy of learning-loss-recovery interventions across eight districts.

Recommended content: 

• "Enrollment down. Achievement lackluster. Should this school close?” —Francis Pearman, Education Week
• “Schools will have to start closing again” —Michael Petrilli, Wall Street Journal
• “Doing educational equity right: School closures” —Michael Petrilli, Fordham Institute
• Maria V. Carbonari et al., “Impacts of Academic Recovery Interventions on Student Achievement in 2022-23,” CALDER Working Paper (July 2024).

Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to Daniel Buck at [email protected].

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Kristen Huff, the vice president of assessment and research at Curriculum Associates, joins Mike and David to discuss the academic performance our youngest students in the wake of the pandemic. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber examines a new study investigating the demographic effects of test-optional policies at selective universities.

Recommended content: 

• “The Youngest Pandemic Children Are Now in School, and Struggling” —New York Times
• Ethan Young and Kelsey Young, “Student growth in the post-COVID era,” Curriculum Associates (June 2024). 
• “The Democratic replacement candidates on education” —Daniel Buck, Fordham Institute
• Adam Tyner, “Think Again: Do College Admissions Exams Drive Higher Education Inequities?” Fordham Institute (February 2023).
• Kelly Rosinger, Dominique J. Baker, Joseph Sturm, Wan Yu, Julie J. Park, OiYan Poon, Brian Heseung Kim, and Stephanie Breen, “Exploring the relationship between test-optional admissions and selectivity and enrollment outcomes during the pandemic,” Annenberg Institute at Brown University (June 2024).

Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to Daniel Buck at [email protected].

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Marguerite Roza, the director of the Edunomics Lab and a research professor at Georgetown University, joins Mike and David to discuss how schools and school systems can downsize in response to declining enrollment. Then, on the Research Minute, Adam examines a new study investigating the academic impacts of ESSER funding, the largest one-time federal investment in public schools in history.

Recommended content: 

• “The math of school closures: How district leaders should navigate the perfect storm of budget shortfalls and declining student enrollment” —Marguerite Roza & Aashish Dhammani, The 74
• “Schools will have to start closing again” —Michael Petrilli, Wall Street Journal
• “Doing educational equity right: School closures” —Michael Petrilli, Fordham Institute
• Dan Goldhaber and Grace Falken, “ESSER and student achievement: Assessing the impacts of the largest one-time federal investment in K12 schools,” CALDER (June 2024).

Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to Daniel Buck at [email protected].

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Alina Adams, a New York Times best-selling author, joins Mike and David to discuss the parenting lessons she learned from watching “Young Sheldon.” Then, on the Research Minute, Adam examines a new study investigating the rigor (or lack thereof) of online credit recovery courses.

Recommended content: 

• “I watched the parenting on ‘Young Sheldon’… and did the exact opposite” —Alina Adams, Education Next
• “Fun fact: ‘Young Sheldon’ provides insight into parenting bright children” —Jonathan Plucker, Education Next
• “Time to press ‘pause’ on credit recovery” —Adam Tyner, Fordham Institute
• Jennifer Darling-Aduana, Carolyn J. Heinrich, Jeremy Noonan, Jialing Wu, and Kathryn Enriquez, “Failing to learn from failure: The facade of online credit recovery assessments,” Education Finance and Policy (March 2024).

Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to Daniel Buck at [email protected].