The Education Gadfly Show

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Mike flies solo to reflect on what’s happening across the education reform landscape—from the private school choice debate to the question of whether education reform has successfully scaled.

Then, on the Research Minute, Adam shares a study examining four-day school weeks and their (paltry) impact on teacher recruitment and retention.

Recommended content:

• “Maine Case Opens New Battleground for School Choice: The Right to Discriminate” —Linda Jacobson, The 74
• “What Betsy DeVos should say about vouchers, LGBT rights, and religious liberty” —Mike Petrilli, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• “John Arnold’s Instructive Retreat from Ed Reform” —Mike Goldstein, Education Next
• “Fewer Children Left Behind: Lessons From the Dramatic Achievement Gains of the 1990s and 2000s” —Mike Petrilli, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• “The Effects of the Four-Day School Week on Teacher Recruitment and Retention” —Andrew M. Camp, J. Cameron Anglum, Cory Koedel, Se Woong Lee, and Tuan D. Nguyen, CALDER (2025)

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

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Jon Valant —director of the Brown Center on Education Policy and a senior fellow in Governance Studies at Brookings—joins Mike to discuss his recent analysis of the federal tax credit scholarship initiative included in the Republican budget bill and its potential to open the door to waste, fraud, and discriminatory practices. Then, on the Research Minute, Adam shares a Belgian study comparing the cognitive and non-cognitive effects of work-based learning within different vocational education arrangements.

Recommended content: 

• “The Educational Choice for Children Act opens the door to waste, fraud, and abuse” —Jon Valant, Brookings Institution
• “Federal school choice skeptics are tilting at windmills” —Shaka Mitchell, for Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• “The impact of work-based versus school-based learning on cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes in vocational secondary education” —Ilse Tobback, Dieter Verhaest, and Kristof De Witte, Economics of Education Review (2025) 

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

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Linda Darling-Hammond and Anne Podolsky of the Learning Policy Institute—authors of our latest Think Again brief, “Do the Returns to Teacher Experience Fizzle Out?”—join Mike and David to discuss whether teachers really stop improving after just a few years on the job. Then, on the Research Minute, Adam shares a study examining the extent of school board turnover and whether it is linked to school performance.

Recommended content: 

• “Think Again: Do the returns to teacher experience fizzle out?” —Anne Poldolsky and Linda Darling-Hammond, Learning Policy Institute, for Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• “Effective Teacher Professional Development” — Linda Darling-Hammond, Maria E. Hyler, and Madelyn Gardner, Learning Policy Institute
• “The voices we don't hear: Teachers who gave up” —Robert Pondiscio, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• “High Turnover with Low Accountability: Local School Board Elections in 16 States” — Vladimir Kogan, Stéphane Lavertu, and Zachary Peskowitz, EdWorking Paper (May 2025)

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

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Brandon Brown, CEO of The Mind Trust, joins Mike to explain why charter school advocates keep winning in red states—and how others might follow Indiana’s lead. Then, on the Research Minute, Adam shares a new study documenting the sharp rise in teacher absences post-pandemic—and why it matters for schools and students.

Recommended content:

• “Charter school advocates keep winning—at least in red states” —Brandon Brown, CEO of The Mind Trust, for Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• “Education reform in red versus blue states” — Michael Petrilli, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• “Five ways to ensure that charter schools have a political future” —Brandon Brown, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• “Ed in ‘28: A playbook for Democratic education reformers” —Dale Chu, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• “State data shows K–12 teacher absences surged post-pandemic” —Michael Hansen, Purnima Aggarwal, and Rebecca Wagner, Brookings Institute (May 2025)

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

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Tom Toch, director of FutureEd, and Lynn Olson, former deputy director at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, join Mike and David to discuss Lynn’s new paper, “Quality Check: The New, Best Way to Measure School Performance.” Then, on the Research Minute, Amber shares a study on the economic effects of Universal Pre-Kindergarten programs, showing that UPK boosted workforce participation across nine states and cities.

Recommended content:

• “Quality Check: The New, Best Way to Measure School Performance” —Lynn Olson, FutureEd
• “A New, Bipartisan Agenda for Raising Student Achievement” —Tom Toch, FutureEd
• “The Full Measure of a School” —Erik W. Robelen, Education Next
• “Ready or Not? A New Way to Measure Elementary and Middle School Quality” — Jing Liu, Seth Gershenson, and Max Anthenelli, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• “Universal Pre-K as Economic Stimulus: Evidence from Nine States and Large Cities in the U.S” — C. Kirabo Jackson, Julia A. Turner, and Jacob Bastian, NBER (May 2025)

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

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Genevieve Collins, Texas State Director for Americans for Prosperity, joins us to discuss Texas’s newly passed Education Savings Account bill—an ambitious policy that could position the Lone Star State as a national leader in school choice. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber highlights a Michigan study showing that simply being flagged for third-grade retention can boost students’ reading scores—even if they aren’t actually held back.

Recommended content: 

• “A Texas-Sized Win for Families in the Trump Education Era” —Genevieve Collins, RealClear Policy
• “Jeb Bush: Texas’ Education Savings Account Victory Can Set Nationwide Standard” —Jeb Bush, The74
• “How Genevieve Collins, Americans for Prosperity, Are Shaping Texas’s Future” —Daily Caller
• “The Impacts of Grade Retention Policy With Minimal Retention” —Jordan S. Berne, Brian A. Jacob, Christina Weiland, Katharine O. Strunk. EdWorking Papers (May 2025)

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

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Starlee Coleman, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, joins Mike and David to discuss the religious charter schools case currently before the U. S. Supreme Court. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber shares a study out of Dallas on whether an automatic Algebra enrollment policy boosted participation among underserved students.

Recommended content: 

• “SCOTUS should mandate state support for religious education, but not via charter schools”—Michael J. Petrilli, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• “Supreme Court Case Could Reshape Landscape for Charter and Religious Schools”—Mark Walsh, Education Week
• “The religious charter schools case is a bigger deal than you think”—Michael J. Petrilli, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• “Why SCOTUS should—and will—approve faith-based charter schools”—Andy Smarick, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• “Closing the Gaps: An Examination of Early Impacts of Dallas ISD’s Opt-out Policy on Advanced Course Enrollment”—Daniel Vargas Castaño, Dareem K. Antoine, and Trey Miller, EdWorkingPapers (May 2025)

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

#968: Are school inspections the accountability tool we’ve overlooked? with Erik Robelen

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, former Education Week reporter Erik Robelen joins Mike and David to discuss school inspections—what they are, how they might fit into accountability systems, and who’s actually using them in U.S. schools. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber highlights a study on how AI tools can help middle school math teachers personalize their lessons.

Recommended content: 

• Erik Robelen, “The Full Measure of a School,” Education Next (Spring 2025).
• Erik Robelen, “England’s School Inspections Get a Makeover,” Education Next (Spring 2025).
• Maryland State Department of Education, Blueprint for Maryland’s Future: Expert Review Team 
• Colorado Department of Education, State Review Panel: School Review Protocol, SchoolWorks LLC (2024).
• Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Charter School Site Visit Protocol, (2024) 
• Rizwaan Malik, Dorna Abdi, Rose E. Wang, and Dorottya Demszky, Scaffolding Middle-School Mathematics Curricula With Large Language Models, EdWorking Papers (April 2025)

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

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Rachel Canter, the founding executive director of Mississippi First and the new director of education policy at the Progressive Policy Institute, joins Mike and David to discuss what really fueled Mississippi’s dramatic gains in student achievement. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber reports on a new study examining the impact of Ohio’s EdChoice voucher program on college enrollment and graduation rates.

Recommended content: 

• Rachel Canter, The Truth About Mississippi’s NAEP Gains, Mississippi First (July 5, 2023)
• Emily Freitag, “A bold state move to improve reading,” Thomas B. Fordham Institute (February 20, 2025).
• Aaron Churchill, “Ohio’s EdChoice scholarship program improved college outcomes,” Thomas B. Fordham Institute (April 25, 2025).
• Matthew Chingos, David Figlio and Krzysztof Karbownik, The Effects of Ohio’s EdChoice Voucher Program on College Enrollment and Graduation, Urban Institute (2025)

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

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Matt Giani, professor and researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, joins Mike and David to discuss whether there’s a one-size-fits-all math pathway for students, as explored in Calculus or Statistics: Does It Matter?—a new study he coauthored for the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber shares a study that examines whether Indiana’s statewide private school voucher program has had any competitive effects on public school student outcomes.

Recommended content: 

• Matt Giani, Franchesca Lyra, and Adam Tyner. Calculus or Statistics: Does it Matter?, Thomas B. Fordham Institute (April 2025).
• Coming Soon: Heena Kuwayama and Adam Tyner. Advanced Math Pathways in New England, Thomas B. Fordham Institute (April 2025).
• The National Working Group on Advanced Education, Building a Wider, More Diverse Pipeline of Advanced Learners, Thomas B. Fordham Institute (June, 2023).
• Anna J. Egalite and Andrew D. Catt, Effects of the Indiana Choice Scholarship Program on Public School Students’ Achievement and Graduation Rates, Sage Journals (2025)

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