The Education Gadfly Show

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Robert Pondiscio, a senior fellow at Fordham and the American Enterprise Institute, joins Mike and David to discuss the lack of curriculum oversight in American schools. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber examines a new study of whether aspiring teachers’ professional references predict their later performance.

Recommended content: 

• “How public schools became ideological boot camps” —Robert Pondiscio, The Free Press
• “Taking curriculum implementation seriously” —Robert Pondiscio, Fordham Institute
• Dan Goldhaber, Cyrus Grout, and Malcolm Wolff, “How well do professional reference ratings predict teacher performance?” Education Finance and Policy (March 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, David Houston, an assistant professor at George Mason University, joins Mike and David to discuss how presidents polarize voters when they weigh in on education debates. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber examines a new study investigating whether performance incentives improve teacher skills and so the academic growth of their students.

Recommended content: 

• “Polling data: Presidents split the public on schools” —Kevin Mahnken, The 74
• “Let’s talk about bad teachers” —Michael Petrilli, Fordham Institute
• David Houston and Alyssa Barone, “How the engagement of high-profile partisan officials affects education politics, public opinion, and polarization,” Annenberg Institute at Brown University (March 2024).
• Eric Taylor, “Employee evaluation and skill investments: Evidence from public school teachers,” Annenberg Institute at Brown University (May 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, Alex Spurrier, an associate partner at Bellwether, joins Mike and David to discuss whether schools in low-income neighborhoods receive less funding than their affluent counterparts. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber examines a new study investigating state finance reforms that secure lasting budget increases for districts.

Recommended content: 

• Alex Spurrier, Bonnie O’Keefe, and Biko McMillan, “Leveling the landscape: An analysis of K–12 funding inequities within metro areas,” Bellwether (May 2024). 
• "Low- and high-income schools now receive equal funding” —Adam Tyner, Fordham Institute
• “Doing educational equity right: School finance” —Michael Petrilli, Fordham Institute
• Shelby M. McNeill and Christopher A. Candelaria, “Paying for school finance reforms: How states raise revenues to fund increases in elementary-secondary education expenditures,” Annenberg Institute at Brown University (May 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, Dr. Katie Jenner, the Indiana secretary of education, joins Mike and David to discuss a proposed, alternative high school diploma in the Hoosier state. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber examines a new study investigating early indicators for college readiness.

Recommended content: 

• “Indiana’s new diplomas emphasize flexibility for older students, but some requirements are controversial” —Chalkbeat
• “We all agree that college isn’t for everyone. We should start acting like it.” —Michael Petrilli, Fordham Institute 
• Brian Holzman and Horace Duffy, “Empowering educational leaders: On-track indicators for college enrollment,” Annenberg Institute at Brown University (May 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, Daniel Buck, Fordham’s policy and editorial associate, joins Mike and David to discuss whether and how elementary schools should teach reading comprehension. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber examines a new study investigating the short- and long-term impacts of school closures in the 1990s.

Recommended content: 

• Daniel Buck, “Think again: Should elementary schools teach reading comprehension?” Fordham Institute (May 2024). 
• "At long last, E.D. Hirsch, Jr. gets his due: New research shows big benefits from Core Knowledge” —Robert Pondiscio, Fordham Institute
• “We need to prepare now for the school closures that are coming” —Tim Daly, Fordham Institute
• Jeonghyeok Kim, “The long shadow of school closures: Impacts on students’ educational and labor market outcomes,” Annenberg Institute at Brown University (May 2024).

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

In a special National Charter Schools Week Education Gadfly Show podcast, Brian Kisida, an assistant professor at the University of Missouri, joins Mike and David to discuss whether charters have impeded racial integration in American schools. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber examines a new study investigating if intensive English learner programs benefit students.

Recommended content: 

• “70 years after Brown v. Board of Education, new research shows rise in school segregation” —Carrie Spector, Stanford Education
• Tomas Monarrez, Brian Kisida, and Matthew M. Chingos. “The effect of charter schools on school segregation,” EdWorkingPaper No. 20-308, Annenberg Institute at Brown University (2020).
• Camila Morales and Monica Mogollon, “The effects of a newcomer program on the academic achievement of English Learners,” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management (May 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, Marian Tupy, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and the founder and editor of HumanProgress.org, joins Mike and David to discuss the incredible progress that humanity has made over millennia, and what schools might do to better teach kids that our past, present, and future is not all doom and gloom. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber examines a new study investigating if education savings accounts increase tuition costs at private schools.

Recommended content: 

• Ten global trends every smart person should know: And many others you will find interesting —Marian Tupy and Ronald Bailey
• “Progress, rediscovered” —Ronald Bailey, Reason Magazine
• “School choice need not mean an expensive windfall for the rich” —Michael Petrilli, Fordham Institute
• “Name Fordham’s boy band!” —Eduwonkette, Education Week
• Jason Fontana and Jennifer L. Jennings, “The effect of taxpayer-funded education savings accounts on private school tuition: Evidence from Iowa,” Annenberg Institute at Brown University (April 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, Adam Tyner, Fordham’s national research director, joins Mike and David to discuss his latest study on advanced education policies across the country. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber examines new research on how the decentralization of teacher accountability under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act affected student achievement.

Recommended content: 

• The broken pipeline: Advanced education policies at the local level —Adam Tyner, Fordham Institute
• Building a Wider, More Diverse Pipeline of Advanced Learners —The National Working Group on Advanced Education, Fordham Institute
• “Teacher evaluation reform was very successful—on paper” —Tim Daly, Fordham Institute
• “Jayden Daniels to Commanders with No. 2 pick in NFL draft” —ESPN
• Eric A. Hanushek, Patricia Saenz-Armstrong, and Alejandra Salazar, Balancing federalism: The impact of decentralizing school accountability, National Bureau of Economic Research (April 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, Joshua Dunn, Executive Director of the Institute of American Civics at the University of Tennessee, joins Mike and David to discuss how public schools will be affected by the end of the Chevron deference—the judicial doctrine in which courts defer to federal agencies’ reasonable interpretations of ambiguous statutes. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber examines a new paper criticizing the famous STAR class size study.

Recommended content: 

• “Fishing for rules” —Joshua Dunn, Education Next
• “The case for the supreme court to overturn Chevron Deference” —Wall Street Journal
• “The Chevron deference is desperately needed” —David Martin, Washington Post
• Karun Adusumilli, Francesco Agostinelli, and Emilio Borghesan, “Heterogeneity and endogenous compliance: Implications for scaling class size interventions,” National Bureau of Economic Research (April 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, Robert Pondiscio, a senior fellow at Fordham and the American Enterprise Institute, joins Mike and David to discuss the state of curricular reform. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber examines new data from the Institute of Education Sciences’ Condition of Education Report.

Recommended content: 

• “40 years after ‘A nation at risk,’ could curriculum reform finally move the needle on academic improvement?” —Robert Pondiscio, The 74
• “The ‘case for curriculum’ is about reducing teachers’ workload” —Robert Pondiscio, Fordham Institute
• Véronique Irwin et. al., “Report on the Condition of Education 2023,” National Center for Education Statistics (August 2023).

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