The Education Exchange

The editor-in-chief of Education Next and member of the National Assessment Governing Board, Martin R. West, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss the latest release of National Assessment of Educational Progress data, which shows test performance dipped for most fourth-grade students in both math and reading since the beginning of the pandemic.

An assistant policy researcher at RAND, Melissa Kay Diliberti, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Diliberti's recent report, which collects survey responses from school districts through the 2021-22 academic year, and how schools are expecting teacher shortages for 2022-23. The report, "Districts Continue to Struggle with Staffing, Political Polarization, and Unfinished Instruction," co-written with Heather L. Schwartz, is available now. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA956-13.html

The director of the Center for School and Student Progress at NWEA, Karyn Lewis, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Lewis' new research brief, which finds signs of student performance in math and reading rebounding during the 2021-22 academic year. The research brief, "Student achievement in 2021–2022: Cause for hope and continued urgency," co-written with Megan Kuhfield, is available now. https://www.nwea.org/content/uploads/2022/07/Student-Achievement-in-2021-22-Cause-for-hope-and-concern.researchbrief-1.pdf

An Assistant Professor at George Mason University, David Houston, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss the 2022 Education Next Survey, on which both Houston and Peterson are co-authors. "Partisan Rifts Widen, Perceptions of School Quality Decline: Results of the 2022 Education Next Survey of Public Opinion," by David M. Houston, Paul E. Peterson, and Martin R. West, is available now. https://www.educationnext.org/partisan-rifts-widen-perceptions-school-quality-decline-results-2022-education-next-survey-public-opinion

A Post Doctoral Researcher at the Harvard Kennedy School, M. Danish Shakeel, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss their new study, which finds that student achievement has increased since the 1970s. "A Half Century of Student Progress Nationwide" is available now at EducationNext.org. https://www.educationnext.org/half-century-of-student-progress-nationwide-first-comprehensive-analysis-finds-gains-test-scores/

An Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, George Bulman, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss how the Covid-19 pandemic affected enrollment and performance in community colleges in California. "The Impact of COVID-19 on Community College Enrollment and Student Success," by Bulman and Robert W. Fairlie, is available now. https://www.edworkingpapers.com/sites/default/files/ai22-602.pdf

The founder of Vertex Partnership Academies, a nonprofit charter school network, Ian Rowe, joins Paul Peterson to discuss the opening of Vertex Academies, a new charter high school set to open this month in the Bronx, New York City.

An adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute and superintendent of Partnership Schools, Kathleen Porter-Magee, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss how enrollment in Catholic schools increased during the Covid-19 pandemic. Porter-Magee's brief, "Catholic School Enrollment Boomed During Covid. Let’s Make It More Than a One-Time Bump," co-written with Annie Smith and Matt Klausmeier, is available now. https://www.manhattan-institute.org/catholic-school-enrollment-boomed-during-covid

The 11th Secretary of Education of the United States, Betsy DeVos, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss her experience in the U.S. Department of Education, and her new book, Hostages No More: The Fight for Education Freedom and the Future of the American Child. A review of the book by Peterson for Education Next is available now: "In New Book, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Emerges as a Modern Alyosha." https://www.educationnext.org/hostages-no-more-school-choice-advances-farther-than-anticipated/

An assistant professor of political science at Boston College, Michael Hartney, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Hartney's new book, how influential teachers unions are in shaping educational policy, and how parents have fared in their own efforts. Hartney's book, How Policies Make Interest Groups: Governments, Unions, and American Education, will be available in Sept. 2022 by the University of Chicago Press.