The Education Gadfly Show

Education Gadfly Show #845: Why schools are wasting millions of dollars on ineffective online tutoring

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Bart Epstein, the president and CEO of EdTech Evidence Exchange, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss the challenges that schools and districts face when implementing online “on-demand” tutoring programs for students. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a study that examines the effects of state-mandated civics tests on youth voter turnout.

Recommended content:

• Bart's organization: EdTech Evidence Exchange
• The narrow path to doing it right: Evidence from vaccine making for high-dosage tutoring  —Mike Goldstein and Bowen Paulle
• "Many schools are buying on-demand tutoring but a study finds that few students are using it" —The Hechinger Report
• The study that Amber reviewed on the Research Minute: Jung, Jilli, and Gopalan, Maithreyi, "The Stubborn Unresponsiveness of Youth Voter Turnout to Civic Education: Quasi-experimental Evidence from State-Mandated Civics Tests," Retrieved from Annenberg Institute at Brown University (Nov 2022)  

 Feedback Welcome:

Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to our podcast producer, Nathaniel Grossman, at [email protected].

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Mike Petrilli and David Griffith are joined by Seth Gershenson—professor at the Department of Public Administration and Policy at American University and the author of Fordham’s new report, High Expectations in District and Charter Schools—to discuss its findings and why high teacher expectations translate into better outcomes for kids. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a study that examines teachers’ contributions to school climate and how it varies by student race and ethnicity. 

Recommended content: 

·      Fordham’s new study by Seth Gershenson: “High Expectations in District and Charter Schools.”

·      The study that Amber reviewed on the Research Minute: Benjamin Backes et al., Teachers and School Climate: Effects on Student Outcomes and Academic Disparities, CALDER Working Paper (October 2022). 

Feedback welcome!

Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to our podcast producers Nathaniel Grossman and Lilly Sibel at [email protected] and [email protected]

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Checker Finn joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss the 2022 NAEP results. Then on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a study that examines how instructional time differs between countries and offers suggestions on how U.S. schools can recover learning time lost to the pandemic. 

Recommended content[BW1] : 

 [BW1]Should add mike and checker’s op-eds tomorrow after they’re published. Once Gadfly goes out, Lilly, please do so.

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Quentin Suffren, Senior Advisor of Innovation Policy for ExcelinEd, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss industry-recognized credentials and why their impact has been muted so far. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a study that examines how college graduates’ earnings are influenced by the performance of their schools’ football teams.  

Recommended content: 

·      Quentin’s recent Fordham article: “Credentials matter, but pathways matter more,” September 2022, which summarized the findings from “Credentials Matter,” a website created by ExcelinEd and Burning Glass Technologies.

·      Our report on IRCs: Matt Giani, “How Attaining Industry-Recognized Credentials in High School Shapes Education and Employment Outcomes,” Thomas B. Fordham Institute (August 2022). 

·      The study that Amber reviewed on the Research Minute: Monica Harber Carney, “College Football Performance, Student Earnings, and the Gender Wage Gap,” Education Finance and Policy (September 2022).

On This week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Carissa Miller, CEO of the Council of Chief State School Officers, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss how state education agencies are spending the 10 percent of ESSER funds set aside for them. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a study on how providing information about the likely financial outcomes of college and career paths affects high schoolers’ choices. 

Recommended content: 

·      CCSSO’s analysis of how the relief dollars are being spent: “States Leading: How State Education Agencies are Leveraging the ESSER Set-Aside,” August 2022; and an accompanying webinar. 

·      The study that Amber reviewed on the Research Minute: Gabriele Ballarino et al., “The effects of an information campaign beyond university enrolment: A large-scale field experiment on the choices of high school students,” Economics of Education Review (December 2022).

Feedback welcome! 

Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to our podcast producers Nathaniel Grossman and Lilly Sibel at [email protected] and [email protected]

On this week’s Education Show podcast, Jennifer Alexander, Executive Director of the Policy Innovators in Education (PIE) Network, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss recent state-level education reform victories, including Tennessee’s school funding overhaul and Illinois’s new charter facilities financing law . Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern discusses a study that examines the impact family structure has had on student achievement and discipline over time. 

Recommended Content: 

• PIE Network’s 2022 Eddie Awards Nominees: “Game Changer Campaign of the Year,” (August 2022). 
• The study that Amber reviewed on the Research Minute: Nicholas Zill and Bradford Wilcox, “Strong Families, Better Student Performance: The More Things Change, the More They Remain the Same,” Institute for Family Studies (August 2022)
• Jeff Murray’s Fordham Institute review of Zill and Bradford’s study: “Family structure and academic outcomes,” (September 6, 2022). 

Feedback Welcome!

Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to our podcast producers Nathaniel Grossman and Lilly Sibel at [email protected] and [email protected]

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Mike Petrilli and David Griffith are joined by Stéphane Lavertu and Long Tran, both professors at the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at the Ohio State University and the authors of Fordham’s new report, For-Profit Charter ­­Schools: An evaluation of their spending and outcomes. They discuss findings from their new study and broader issues of so-called “for-profit” charter schools. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber­­­ Northern reviews an ambitious study that examines closure and restructuring rates in district, charter, and private schools nationwide. 

Recommended content: 

·      Fordham’s new study: Stéphane Lavertu and Long Tran, “For-Profit Charter Schools: An evaluation of their spending and outcomes,” Thomas B. Fordham Institute (September 2022). 

·      The study that Amber reviewed on the Research Minute: Douglas N. Harris and Valentina Martinez-Pabon, “Extreme Measures: A National Descriptive Analysis of Closure and Restructuring of Traditional Public, Charter, and Private Schools,” Education Finance and Policy (2022).

Feedback Welcome!

Have ideas on our podcast? Send them to our podcast producers Nathaniel Grossman and Lilly Sibel at [email protected] and [email protected]

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Karega Rausch, President and CEO of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss what—if anything—charter schools could have done to reopen sooner during the 2020-21 school year. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern discusses the long-term impacts of requiring high school seniors to pass a science test to graduate. 

Recommended Content: 

·      Karega’s essay for The 74: “High-Quality Charter Schools Can Help Drive Student Recovery from COVID — If They’re Allowed to Grow and Expand” (April 2022). 

·      Marc Porter Magee on the devastating learning loss of DC’s charter schools: “The New Reality Roundup | Week 132,” (September 2022)

·      The study that Amber reviewed on the Research Minute: Ann Mantil, John Papay, Preeya Pandya Mbekeani, and Richard J. Murnane, “Increasing High School Students’ Preparation and Interest in STEM Fields: Does a Graduation Requirement Make a Difference?” Retrieved from Annenberg Institute at Brown University (September 2022)

Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to our podcast producers Nathaniel Grossman and Lilly Sibel at [email protected] and [email protected].

 On this week’s Education Gadfly Show Podcast, Elliot Regenstein joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss his new book, which calls for changes in three areas of education policy: accountability, teacher pay, and school choice. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern discusses a paper that identifies common transportation challenges for cities with lots of charter schools and other forms of school choice.  

Recommended content: 

·      Elliot’s new book: Education Restated: Getting Policy Right on Accountability, Teacher Pay, and School Choice(Rowman & Littlefield, August 2022). 

·      Amber’s article that she reviewed on the Research Minute: Carolyn Sattin-Bajaj, “Student Transportation in Choice-Rich Districts: Implementation Challenges and Responses,” Education Finance and Policy (April 2022).

Feedback Welcome!

Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to our podcast producers Nathaniel Grossman and Lilly Sibel at [email protected] and [email protected]

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show Podcast, John Bailey, nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, joins Mike Petrilli to discuss what schools are likely to do—and what they should do—if hit by more Covid waves this year. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a study that examines whether private schools that participate in voucher programs “cream skim” high achieving students and/or push out more challenging ones.

Recommended Content:  

• Bree Dusseault: “School Mask, Vaccine Mandates Are Mostly Gone. But What if the Virus Comes Back?” (September 2022).
•  Amber’s article that she reviewed on the Research Minute: Joseph Waddington, Ron Zimmer, and Mark Berends, “Cream Skimming and Pushout of Students Participating in a Statewide Private School Voucher Program,” Retrieved from Annenberg Institute at Brown University (August 2022).

Feedback Welcome!

Have ideas on our podcast? Send them to our podcast producers Nathaniel Grossman and Lilly Sibel at [email protected] and [email protected]