#960: Why Secretary McMahon shouldn’t waive federal testing requirements, with Charles Barone

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Charles Barone, Senior Director of the Center for Innovation at the National Parents Union, joins Mike and David to discuss the future of federal assessment and accountability policies under the Trump Administration. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber examines a study on student loan forgiveness and its impact on work, earnings, and borrowing.

Recommended content: 

• Charles Barone, “The Future of Assessment and Accountability | Part 1 | Goodbye Federal Assessment Guardrails?,” National Parents Union  (2025).
• Dale Chu, “Are states ready to lead on education? Could Trump’s policies set them up to fail?,” Thomas B. Fordham Institute (March 6, 2025).
• Victoria McDougald, “The case for standardized testing,” Thomas B. Fordham Institute (August 1, 2025).
• Michael Dinerstein, Samuel Earnest, Dmitri K. Koustas and Constantine Yannelis, Student Loan Forgiveness, NBER (February 2025)

Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to Stephanie Distler at sdistler@fordhaminstitute.org.