The Education Gadfly Show

On this week’s podcast, Mike Petrilli and David Griffith are joined by Mark Weber, a special analyst for education policy at the New Jersey Policy Perspective, to discuss the new report he authored for Fordham, Robbers or Victims? Charter Schools and District Finances. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines a poll of parents’ opinions on Covid-19 and their children’s’ schooling.

On this week’s podcast, Vic Klatt, a principal of Penn Hill Group, joins David Griffith and Checker Finn to discuss what the latest proposed federal stimulus package would mean for America’s schools. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines how school district consolidation affects student achievement.

On this week’s podcast, Mike Petrilli and David Griffith are joined by Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week, which is this week, to discuss how the school choice movement has been altered by the pandemic. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines parents’ demand for childcare quality.

On this week’s podcast, Patricia Levesque, chief executive officer of ExcelinEd, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss what’s on the ed reform agenda in state legislative sessions nationwide. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines whether schools of choice are able to pull high-performing students from traditional public schools and push out low performers. 

On this week’s podcast, Eric Parsons, associate teaching professor of economics at the University of Missouri and co-author of our new report “Bridging the Covid Divide,” joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss what he and his fellow researchers learned about measuring student achievement growth in the absence of 2020 test scores. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines the effects of a single virtual charter school on student achievement, controlling for student mobility.

On this week’s podcast, Subira Gordon, executive director of Connecticut’s ConnCAN, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss President-elect Biden’s education secretary nominee, Miguel Cardona, and his work in the Nutmeg State. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern runs down the best research of 2020.

On this week’s podcast, Noelle Ellerson Ng, associate executive director at AASA, the School Superintendents Association, and Emily Oster, Professor of Economics at Brown University, join Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss whether the vaccines will allow schools to reopen nationwide this school year. On the Research Minute, Matthew Steinberg discusses the study he and Haisheng Yang just conducted for Fordham on teacher effectiveness and improvement in charter and traditional public schools.

On this week’s podcast, Katharine Stevens, visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss President-elect Biden’s childcare and pre-K plans. On the Research Minute, Adam Tyner examines how college instructors’ attractiveness affect their student evaluations.

On this week’s podcast, Mike Petrilli and David Griffith are joined by Checker Finn, who discusses Senator Lamar Alexander’s K–12 education legacy. On the Research Minute, Adam Tyner examines research on why efforts to boost student motivation may be misguided.

On this week’s podcast, ExcelinEd’s Matthew Joseph and The Education Trust’s Zahava Stadler join Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss how states can protect schools and disadvantaged students from budget cuts. On the Research Minute, Victoria McDougald examines the effects of absenteeism on cognitive and social-emotional outcomes.