The Education Gadfly Show

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The Education Gadfly Show episodes

February 09, 2022#806: On school boards, curriculum controversies, and a Parents’ Bill of Rights - 02/8/22
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast (listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify), Robert Pondiscio, Mike Petrilli, and David Griffith discuss a school board’s controversial removal of a holocaust book from its district’s curriculum, and whether states should create a Parents’ Bill of Rights. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines a study of summer employment’s effect on the academic outcomes of low-income, urban high schoolers.
You can find this and every episode on all major podcast platforms, as well as share it with friends.
Recommended content:
Robert’s piece about the school board’s decision: “The Maus that roared: Who do you want to decide what’s best for kids?”
Dale Chu’s piece on Parents’ Bill of Rights: “The curriculum transparency trap.”
The middle-school English curriculum mentioned during the podcast: EL Education.
The study that Amber reviewed on the Research Minute: Alicia Sasser Modestino and Richard Paulsen, “School’s Out: How Summer Youth Employment Programs Impact Academic Outcomes,” Education Finance and Policy (January 2022).
Feedback welcome!
Have ideas or feedback on our podcast? Send them to our podcast producer Pedro Enamorado at [email protected].
30 min
February 02, 2022#805: High schools didn’t get the memo that college isn’t for everyone - 02/02/22
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast (listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify), Checker Finn, Mike Petrilli, and David Griffith discuss whether American education should stop trying to send every student to college, and what that may mean for high school course requirements. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines a study on how universal school breakfasts affect disadvantaged student’s academic outcomes.
Recommended content:
Mike’s piece that sparked the conversation: “We all agree that college isn’t for everyone. We should start acting like it.”
The study that Amber reviewed on the Research Minute: Rahi Abouk and Scott Adams, “Breakfast After the Bell: The Effects of Expanding Access to School Breakfasts on the Weight and Achievement of Elementary School Children,” Economics of Education Review (January 2022).
Feedback welcome!
Have ideas or feedback on our podcast? Send them to our podcast producer Pedro Enamorado at [email protected].
23 min
January 26, 2022#804: How charter schools are closing achievement gaps in metro areas - 01/26/22
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss Fordham’s latest charter school study, Still Rising, and how school choice helps students in traditional public schools, too. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines a study of how pandemic-related school disruptions affect children’s mental health.
You can find this and every episode on all major podcast platforms.
Recommended content:
The report authored by David: Still Rising: Charter School Enrollment and Student Achievement at the Metropolitan Level.
The tool for parents that Andrew mentions: “School Choice by State.”
The study that Amber reviews on the Research Minute: Anna Gassman-Pines, Elizabeth Ananat, John Fitz-Henley II, and Jane Leer, “Effects of Daily School and Care Disruptions During the COVID-19 Pandemic on Child Mental Health,” NBER Working Paper #29659 (January 2022).
Feedback welcome!
Have ideas or feedback on our podcast? Send them to our podcast producer Pedro Enamorado at [email protected].
26 min
January 19, 2022#803: John Bailey on Omicron and schools - 1/20/2022
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, John Bailey, nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss Omicron’s impact on schools and whether the virus will soon be endemic. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines a study about the most in-demand college majors.

Recommended content:
John Bailey’s daily Covid-19 policy updates on Substack and his March 2021 review of public health research on schools for AEI, “Is it safe to reopen schools? An extensive review of the research.”
The study that Amber reviewed on the Research Minute: Steven W. Hemelt et. al., “College Majors and Skills: Evidence from the Universe of Online Jobs Ads,” NBER Working Paper #29605 (December 2021).
Feedback welcome!
Have ideas or feedback on our podcast? Send them to our podcast producer Pedro Enamorado at [email protected].
27 min
January 12, 2022#802: Erica Green on the pandemic’s impact on high school students - 1/12/2022
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast (listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify), Erica Green, national education reporter at the New York Times, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss schools’ struggle to support teens’ mental health and respond to increasing misbehavior. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines a study on whether improving access to dual-enrollment courses raises participation.
Recommended content:
Erica Green’s New York Times piece about students at Liberty High: “The Students Returned, but the Fallout From a Long Disruption Remained”
Mike Petrilli’s thoughts on the federal response to this issue in The Dispatch: “Now Is Not the Time to Meddle in School Disciplinary Policy”
Fordham’s 2019 teacher survey on discipline policies: Discipline Reform through the Eyes of Teachers
The study that Amber reviewed on the Research Minute: Steven W. Hemelt and Tom Swiderski, “College Comes to High School: Participation and Performance in Tennessee’s Innovative Wave of Dual-Credit Courses,” Center for Education Policy Analysis (November 2021).
Feedback welcome!
Have ideas or feedback on our podcast? Send them to our podcast producer Pedro Enamorado at [email protected].
26 min
January 05, 2022 #801: Grumpy New Year with Checker Finn - 1/5/22
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast (listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify), Checker Finn, Fordham’s senior fellow and president emeritus, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss the big education issues of the past year and look ahead to 2022. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines a study showing that Black and Hispanic students are less likely to major in lucrative fields.
Feedback welcome!
Have ideas or feedback on our podcast? Send them to our podcast producer Pedro Enamorado at [email protected].
30 min
December 22, 2021#800: Why we need virtue education in our classrooms - 12/21/2021
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Jennifer Frey, associate professor at the University of South Carolina and a regular guest writer for Fordham’s Flypaper blog, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss why and how we should incorporate virtue education in classrooms. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern runs down the best education research of 2021.
You can find this and every episode on all major podcast platforms, as well as share it with friends.
Recommended content:
Jennifer’s ongoing Flypaper blog post series on virtue education:
“Reconnecting knowledge and virtue”
“What is virtue and why does it matter?”
“Teaching gratitude beyond Thanksgiving”
“Civility, democracy, and education”
Amber’s list of the top six studies she reviewed this past year on the Research Minute.
Feedback welcome!
Have ideas or feedback on our podcast? Send them to our podcast producer Pedro Enamorado at [email protected].
35 min
December 15, 2021 #799: Build Back Better’s big impact on pre-k and child care - 12/15/21
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Elliot Regenstein, partner at Foresight Law + Policy and former member of Illinois’s Early Childhood Funding Commission, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss how the Build Back Better plan would affect pre-k and child care. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern covers a study that examines why students of color benefit from having teachers of the same race and ethnicity.

Amber's Research Minute:
David Blazar, “Teachers of Color, Culturally Responsive Teaching, and Student Outcomes: Experimental Evidence from the Random Assignment of Teachers to Classes,” Annenberg Institute at Brown University (December 2021).
Feedback welcome!
Have ideas or feedback on our podcast? Send them to our podcast producer Pedro Enamorado at [email protected].
31 min
December 08, 2021#798: Which metro areas are accelerating student learning? - 12/08/21
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Adam Tyner, Fordham’s Associate Director of Research, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss our new analysis, America’s Best and Worst Metro Areas for School Quality, some of which may surprise you. And on the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines the effectiveness of efforts to diversify the teacher workforce.
Recommended content:
Fordham’s new report at metro.fordhaminstitute.org.
More of our work on metro areas:
What You Make Depends on Where You Live: College Earnings Across States and Metropolitan Areas.
How Aligned is Career and Technical Education to Local Labor Markets?
The study that Amber reviewed on the Research Minute: Dan Goldhaber and Etai Mizrav, “The Prospective Teacher Pipeline: Simulation Evidence on Levers to Influence Teacher Diversity,” CALDER Working Papers (December 2021).
Feedback welcome!
Have ideas or feedback on our podcast? Send them to our podcast producer Pedro Enamorado at [email protected].
27 min
November 30, 2021 #797: Why debunked reading practices continue to spread - 11/30/21
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Sandi Jacobs, Principal at EdCounsel and former Senior Education Program Specialist for Reading First at the U.S. Department of Education, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss why reading programs based on debunked science persist in schools. Her answer: It’s complicated. Educators, in part, may struggle with the idea that they’ve been teaching something incorrectly. And strong, evidence-backed replacements programs can lack hefty marketing budgets. After this discussion, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines a study on how dual-language education affects math and reading outcomes.

Feedback welcome!
Have ideas or feedback on our podcast? Send them to our podcast producer Pedro Enamorado at [email protected].
29 min

About The Education Gadfly Show

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For more than 15 years, 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…