The Education Gadfly Show

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Lindsey Burke, the director of the Center for Education Policy at the Heritage Foundation, joins Mike and David to discuss what a second Trump term could mean for federal education policy. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber reports on a new study investigating the impacts of licensure and certification on CTE teacher retention.

Recommended content:

• “If Trump returns…” —Chester E. Finn, Jr., Fordham Institute
• “Department of Education” —Lindsey M. Burke, chapter in Mandate for leadership 
• Hannah Kistler, Shaun Dougherty, and S. Colby Woods, “Teacher exit and educational opportunity: Lessons from career and technical education,” Educational Researcher (January 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, Douglas Lauen, a professor of public policy and sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, joins Mike to discuss residential mobility, academic achievement, and charter schools. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber reviews a study investigating how school facilities funding impacts test scores and housing prices.

Recommended content:

• “New home, same school: Charter schools and residentially-mobile students” —Doug Lauen
• “The charter-school movement just keeps on keepin’ on” —Jed Wallace, Education Next
• Barbara Biasi, Julien M. Lafortune, and David Schönholzer, “What works and for whom: Effectiveness and efficiency of school capital investments across the U.S.,” National Bureau of Economic Research (January 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, Angela Rachidi, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, joins Mike to discuss whether a reformed and refundable child tax credit can reduce poverty. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber reviews a study investigating a cost-effective high-dosage tutoring intervention.

Recommended content:

• “How to actually triumph over poverty” —Angela Rachidi, National Review
• “The child tax credit: 25 years later” —Angela Rachidi, Senate Committee on Finance
• “Congress is about to do something amazing: agree to invest in kids” —Catherine Rampell, Washington Post
• Kalena Cortes, Karen Kortecamp, Susanna Loeb, and Carly D. Robinson, “A Scalable Approach to High-Impact Tutoring for Young Readers: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial,” Annenberg Institute at Brown University (January 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, Ray Domanico, the director of education policy at the Manhattan institute, joins Mike to discuss whether New York should eliminate the Regents Exams as high school graduation requirements. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber reviews a study investigating the trends in parental school involvement over the past two and a half decades.

Recommended content:

• “Revising graduation requirements could improve academic rigor in New York” —Ray Domanico, Education Next
• “End-of-course exams and student outcomes” —Adam Tyner and Matthew Larsen
• “The accountability conundrum” —Chester E. Finn, Jr., Fordham Institute
• Ariel Kalil, Samantha Steimle, and Rebecca Ryan, “Trends in Parents’ Time Investment at Children’s Schools During a Period of Economic Change,” AERA (April 2023).

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

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Debbie Veney, a senior vice president at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, joins Mike to discuss the growth in the charter sector since 2019. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber reviews a new study investigating the effects of mock instruction and coaching on pre-service teacher performance.

Recommended content:

• “Believing in public education: A demographic and state-level analysis of public charter school and district public school enrollment trends” —Drew Jacobs and Debbie Veney, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
• “Which large school districts provide fertile terrain for charter growth?” —Amber M. Northern and Michael J. Petrilli, Thomas B. Fordham Institute 
• Julie Cohen, Anandita Krishnamachari, Vivian C. Wong, and Steffen Erickson, “Experimental Evidence on the Robustness of Coaching Supports in Teacher Education,” Educational Researcher (December 2023).

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

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Checker Finn, Fordham’s president emeritus—and the original Education Gadfly—joins Mike and David to discuss the best and worst developments in education reform in 2023. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber reviews the best education research of the year.

Recommended content:

• “Standards-based reform | A Nation At Risk +40” —Michael Petrilli, Hoover Institution
• “What would another Trump term mean for education?” —Chester E. Finn, Jr., Fordham Institute
• Preeya Mbekeani, John Papay, Ann Mantil, and Richard J. Murnane, “Understanding High Schools’ Effects on Longer-Term Outcomes,” Annenberg Institute at Brown University (February 2023).

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

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Kara Arundel, a senior reporter at K-12 Dive, joins Mike to discuss two decades of private school choice in D.C. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber reports on a new study investigating the success of science-of-reading interventions in California.

Recommended content:

• “‘Opportunity’ knocked—and stayed: Two decades of private school vouchers in the nation’s capital” —Kara Arundel, K–12 Dive
• “‘Opportunity’ knocked—and stayed: Successes and flaws of D.C.’s private school voucher program” —Kara Arundel, K–12 Dive
• Sarah Novicoff and Thomas S. Dee, “The Achievement Effects of Scaling Early Literacy Reforms,” Annenberg Institute at Brown University (December 2023).

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

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Jeanette Luna, a production and research associate at the Fordham Institute, joins Mike to discuss the competitive pressures facing America’s largest school districts. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber reports on a new study investigating whether post-Covid grade inflation has begun to recede.

Recommended content:

• “The education competition index: Quantifying competitive pressure in America’s 125 largest school districts” —David Griffith and Jeanette Luna, The Fordham Institute
• “School choice isn’t killing traditional public schools. It’s making them better.” —Michael Petrilli, The Fordham Institute
• Dan Goldhaber and Maia Goodman Young, “Course Grades as a Signal of Student Achievement: Evidence on Grade Inflation Before and After COVID-19,” Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (November 2023).

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

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Tim Daly, the CEO of Ed Navigator, joins Mike to discuss the causes and harms of grade inflation—and how to fix it. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber reports on a new study that investigates whether exposure to certain peers and teachers explains achievement gains resulting from enrollment in early algebra.

Recommended content:

• “Grade inflation is locking in learning loss, part one” —Tim Daly, The Education Daly
• “How to fix grade inflation” —Tim Daly, The Education Daly 
• Quentin Brummet et al., “Early Algebra Affects Peer Composition,” Annenberg Institute at Brown University (November 2023).

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

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Chad Aldeman, the founder of Read Not Guess and a columnist for The 74, joins Mike to discuss how the end of COVID relief funds could cause a wave of teacher layoffs. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber reports on a new study investigating whether schools gamed their academic gains during No Child Left Behind.

Recommended content:

• “Schools could lose 136,000 teaching jobs when federal COVID funds run out” —Chad Aldeman, The 74
• “Fiscal cliff could force layoffs of the best teachers” —Michael Petrilli, Education Next
• John Gregg and Stéphane Lavertu, “Test-based accountability and educational equity: Breaking through local district politics?” Economics of Education Review (December 2023).

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