The Education Gadfly Show
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 featuring Fordham’s Mike Petrilli and David Griffith. Then the wise Amber Northern will recap a recent research study. For questions or comments on the podcast, contact its producer, Pedro Enamorado, at penamorad@fordhaminstitute.org.
Episodes
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Frances Messano, the CEO of NewSchools Venture fund, joins Mike to discuss the Building Bridges Initiative and its call to action, A Generation at Risk. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber discusses new research that finds that attending KIPP middle and high schools dramatically increases students’ rate of college completion.
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On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Checker Finn, Fordham’s president emeritus, joins Mike to discuss why and how to bring accountability back to American schools. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber discusses a new study that measures the differences in teacher effectiveness across generations.
Recommended content:
- “The accountability conundrum” —Checker Finn
- “We can fight learning loss only with accountability and acti...
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Adam Tyner, Fordham’s national research director, joins Mike to discuss disparities by race and socioeconomic status among America’s highest achieving students. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber discusses a new report from the ACT that analyzes the evidence of grade inflation since 2010.
Recommended content:
- “Excellence gaps by race and socioeconomic status” —Meredith Coffey and Ada...
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Linda Jacobson, a senior writer at The 74, joins Mike to discuss why more students are attending in-person classes with a virtual teacher. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber discusses a new study on the minimally positive effect of summer school interventions designed to mitigate pandemic learning loss.
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On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, William McKenzie, a senior editorial advisor at the George W. Bush Institute, joins Mike to discuss the state takeover of Houston ISD and its crusading new superintendent. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber discusses a study that finds a Los Angeles public school choice policy increased academic achievement.
Recommended content:
- “What Mike Miles can do to transform Houston ISD” —Wil...
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Daniel Buck, Fordham’s editorial and policy associate, joins Mike and David to discuss the behavioral chaos in American schools post-pandemic. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber discusses a new study finding that pandemic-era declines in public school enrollment are likely to persist.
Recommended content:
- “The school discipline disaster” —Daniel Buck
- “‘There were fists everywhere.’ V...
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Rachel Canter, the executive director of Mississippi First, joins Mike to debunk the allegations that her state fudged its notable gains in reading achievement. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber examines the failure of a federal student loan forgiveness program for teachers.
Recommended content:
- “The truth about Mississippi’s NAEP gains” —Rachel Canter
- “Mississippi didn’t cheat. Its ...
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Aaron Churchill, Fordham’s Ohio research director, joins David to discuss how the Buckeye State’s latest omnibus bill benefits education. Then, on Research minutes, Amber examines a study on whether attending high-performing charter schools reduces risky behaviors like drug use.
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On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Tom Loveless, a former senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, joins Mike to discuss the problematic practices and research in California’s new mathematics framework. Then, on Research minutes, Amber discusses a depressing new report that finds a degradation in instructional quality that’s making it difficult to recover pandemic-era learning loss.
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On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Perpetual Baffour, the research director at the Learning Agency Lab, joins Mike to discuss her creation of an AI Chatbot designed to give teachers and school leaders research-based advice. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber discusses a study covering the negative impacts on teacher pay of a Texas policy to expand alternative teacher certification.
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On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Fordham’s Adam Tyner joins Mike to discuss his latest report on the inequalities or lack thereof in education funding. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber reviews an evaluation of a teacher-led course for college advising.
Recommended content:
- “Think Again: Is Education Funding in America Still Unequal?”—Adam Tyner
- “Another Nail in the Money Doesn’t Matter Coffin”—Adam Tyner
- The study t...
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, former Massachusetts Secretary of Education Jim Peyser joins Mike to discuss education reform’s tendency to overpromise, and how we can avoid that in the fight against learning loss. Then, on the Research Minute, Adam discusses a study on how the pandemic affected the academic growth of high- and low-achieving students.
Recommended content:
- “Settle for better”— James Peyser
- “Education ...
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Alia Wong of USA Today joins Mike and David to discuss what’s causing chronic absenteeism and ways to fix it. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber discusses a California study that investigates the extent to which a small group of teachers exacerbates racial gaps in school discipline.
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On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Kevin Teasley, of the Greater Educational Opportunities Foundation, joins Mike Petrilli to discuss his charter high schools where students take dual-enrollment courses at local colleges and earn associate degrees. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber discusses a study that investigates how states’ early literacy policies affect reading and math achievement.
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On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Nick Colangelo of the University of Iowa joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss the recommendations in the new report from the National Working Group on Advanced Education. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber discusses a California study that investigates how within-school differences in school quality contribute to educational achievement gaps.
Recommended content:
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Paul DiPerna of EdChoice joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss the results from the EdChoice survey on teacher satisfaction and wellness across the district, charter, and private school sectors. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber discusses a study that investigates the negative long-term effects of Reading Recovery.
Recommended content:
- “Where are teachers thriving?”—Mike...
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Kathleen Porter-Magee of Partnership Schools—a network of Catholic schools in New York City and Cleveland—joins Mike Petrilli to discuss the debate over religious charter schools. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber discusses a Virginia study that compares labor market outcomes between community college students from higher and lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
Recommended content:
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Tom Kane of Harvard University joins Mike Petrilli to discuss his findings from The Education Recovery Scorecard Project. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber discusses a New York City study that investigates how external principal hires and internal principal promotions affect various measures of school quality.
Recommended content:
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss his new book, The Great School Rethink. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber discusses a Massachusetts study that found a connection between teachers’ scores on CTE licensure exams and the long-term earnings of their students.
Recommended content:
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Deven Carlson of Oklahoma University joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss his new Fordham study on the outcomes of English learners who attend charter schools in Texas. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber discusses the prevalence of stackable credentials in Ohio and Colorado.
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