#975: Mike on the mic: On “discrimination” and demagoguery

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 sdistler@fordhaminstitute.org.