The Education Gadfly Show

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.Recommended content:“Showing up to school was hard amid COVID. Why aren’t kids (or teachers) returning to class?” — Alia Wong“When students feel unsafe, absenteeism grows” —Amber M. Northern, Ph.D. and Christian Eggers“Imperfect Attendance: Toward a fairer measure of student absenteeism” —Jing Liu“3 years since the pandemic wrecked attendance, kids still aren't showing up to school” —NPR The study that Amber reviewed on the Research Minute: Jing Liu, Emily K. Penner and Wenjing Gao, Troublemakers? The Role of Frequent Teacher Referrers in Expanding Racial Disciplinary Disproportionalities, American Educational Research Association (June 2023)Feedback Welcome:Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to Jeanette Luna at jluna@fordhaminstitute.org.

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.Recommended content:“Case Study: Delivering K-16 Outcomes with K-12 Dollars” — The 74“Attend These Charter Schools. Leave With College Credentials”—Rick Hess Straight UpThe study that Amber reviewed on the Research Minute: John Westall and Amy Cummings, “The Effects of Early Literacy Policies on Student Achievement,” Education Policy Innovation Collaborative (June 2023)Feedback Welcome:Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to Jeanette Luna at jluna@fordhaminstitute.org.

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:The National Working Group on Advanced Education’s new report: “Building a Wider, More Diverse Pipeline of Advanced Learners”“The case for gifted education” —Brandon L. Wright“Research Deep Dive: What we know about gifted education”—Michael J. Petrilli, Jonathan Plucker, and Amber M. Northern, Ph.D. “Because equity” is not a good reason to lower standards” —Michael J. PetrilliThe study that Amber reviewed on the Research Minute: Matthew Naven, Within-School Heterogeneity in Quality: Do Schools Provide Equal Value Added to All Students?, Annenberg Institute at Brown University (May 2023)Feedback Welcome:Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to Jeanette Luna at jluna@fordhaminstitute.org.

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 McShane“Teacher job satisfaction rebounds from last year’s low. But there’s still a ways to go” —Education WeekThe study that Amber reviewed on the Research Minute: Henry May et al., Long-Term Impacts of Reading Recovery through 3rd and 4th Grade: A Regression Discontinuity Study, Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness (May 2023) Feedback Welcome:Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to Jeanette Luna at jluna@fordhaminstitute.org.

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:“3 reasons why religious charter schools should give us pause” —Kathleen Porter Magee“Proposal for first religious charter school in US shot down by Oklahoma education board” —USA Today“Supreme Court opens a path to religious charter schools: But the trail ahead holds twists and turns” —Education NextThe study that Amber reviewed on the Research Minute: Brian Heseung Kim et al., Crossing the Finish Line but Losing the Race? Socioeconomic Inequalities in the Labor Market Trajectories of Community College Graduates , Education Finance & Policy (April 2023) Feedback Welcome:Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to Jeanette Luna at jluna@fordhaminstitute.org.

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:“Parents don’t understand how far behind their kids are in school” —Tom Kane and Sean Reardon “Pandemic learning loss: The role remote education played” —New York Times“American schools would rather not tell parents just how badly behind their children are after the pandemic” —FortuneThe study that Amber reviewed on the Research Minute: Marcus Winters et al., The Impact of Principal Attrition and Replacement on Indicators of School Quality, Education Finance & Policy (2023) Feedback Welcome:Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to Jeanette Luna at jluna@fordhaminstitute.org.

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:“How can we liberate students from drudgery? It’s time for a Great Rethink” —Rick Hess“Education commentary is dominated by optimism bias” —Freddie deBoerThe study that Amber reviewed on the Research Minute: Bingjie Chien et al., “CTE teacher licensure and long-term student outcomes,” Education Finance & Policy (March 2023) Feedback Welcome:Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to our producer Nathaniel Grossman at ngrossman@fordhaminstitute.org.

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.Recommended content:Fordham’s new report: “Charter Schools and English Learners in the Lone Star State” —Deven Carlson and David Griffith“Thousands of families opt to join Texas’ growing charter school system” —Spectrum News 1 [South Texas]“San Antonio charter schools lifted student achievement prior to pandemic” —Greg ToppoThe study that Amber reviewed on the Research Minute: Lindsay Daugherty et al., “Stackable Credential Pipelines and Equity for Low-Income Individuals,” RAND (2023) Feedback Welcome:Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to our producer Nathaniel Grossman at ngrossman@fordhaminstitute.org.

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Bellwether co-founder and Virginia Board of Education member Andy Rotherham joins Mike Petrilli, David Griffith, and Amber Northern to discuss Virginia’s newly-approved history and social science standards. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber examines how test-based and non-test-based measures of teacher quality affect student outcomes.Recommended content:Virginia’s new standards: “Standards of learning for history & social science” —Virginia Department of EducationAndy’s blog on education policy: Eduwonk“After months of controversy, Virginia approves new school history standards” —Washington PostFordham’s most recent report on history and civics standards: “The State of State Standards for Civics and U.S. History in 2021,” by Jeremy A. Stern, Ph.D., Alison E. Brody, José A. Gregory, Stephen Griffith, and Jonathan PulversThe study that Amber reviewed on the Research Minute: Benjamin Backes et al., “How to measure a teacher: The influence of test and nontest value-added on long-run student outcomes,” CALDER Working Paper (April 2023)Feedback Welcome:Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to our producer Nathaniel Grossman at ngrossman@fordhaminstitute.org.

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Robert Pondiscio joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss a new study that shows that a curriculum rich in content knowledge can boost reading comprehension, especially for students from low-income backgrounds. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber looks at the impact of charter schools on private tutoring prevalence.Recommended content:The study on Core Knowledge Charter Schools discussed in this episode: David Grissmer et al., “A kindergarten lottery evaluation of Core Knowledge Charter Schools: Should building general knowledge have a central role in educational and social science research and policy?” Annenberg Institute Ed Working Paper No. 23-755 (April 2023)“At long last, E.D. Hirsch, Jr. gets his due: New research shows big benefits from Core Knowledge” —Robert Pondiscio“Using a curriculum rich in arts, history, and science led to big reading improvements” —Education WeekThe study that Amber reviewed on the Research Minute: Edward J. Kim and Luke W. Miratrix, “The causal impact of charter schools on private tutoring prevalence,” Annenberg Institute Ed Working Paper No. 23-756 (April 2023) Feedback Welcome:Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to our producer Nathaniel Grossman at ngrossman@fordhaminstitute.org.