The Education Exchange

The president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, Nina Rees, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss a recent report by the National Alliance which shows an increase in enrollment in charter schools across the country in the 2020-21 academic year. The report, "Voting with Their Feet: A State-level Analysis of Public Charter School and District Public School Enrollment Trends," is available now. https://www.publiccharters.org/our-work/publications/voting-their-feet-state-level-analysis-public-charter-school-and-district

The president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Mike Petrilli, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss the results of the 2021 Virginia Governor race, and what the election of Glenn Youngkin could signal for school choice moving forward.

A junior economist and doctoral student at the Ifo Center for the Economics of Education, Benjamin Arold, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Arold's research, which looks at the impact of the Common Core on subjects outside of math and reading. The paper, "The Unintended Effects of the Common Core State Standards on Non-Targeted Subjects," by Arold and M. Danish Shakeel, is available here: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/Taubman/PEPG/research/PEPG21_03.pdf

Investor and Chairman of the Board for the American Federation for Children, Bill Oberndorf, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss how progress in the school choice movement has been made in the states, with private school choice programs in 32 states, and charter programs in 48. Oberndorf was recently awarded the 2021 Simon-DeVos Prize for Philanthropic Leadership by Philanthropy Roundtable.

A senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, columnist for the Wall Street Journal, and author of Maverick: A Biography of Thomas Sowell, Jason Riley, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss some of Riley's reservations with adoption of critical race theory into school curriculum.

The Superintendent of Detroit Public Schools Community District, Dr. Nikolai Vitti, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss how he has helped Detroit schools rebound from financial strains to its current renaissance.

The Managing Attorney at the Liberty Justice Center, Daniel Suhr, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss the Bishop of Charleston v. Adams case, which challenges South Carolina state officials from using the Blaine Amendment to block Covid-19 funds from going to non-public schools and historically black colleges and universities.

The Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University, Eric Hanushek, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Hanushek being awarded the $3.9 million Yidan Prize, which honors individuals or teams that have significantly contributed to the theory and practice of education.

The superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Alberto Carvalho, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss how the district has supported school choice, which includes spreading choice options to communities and creating new programs that meet the needs of students and demands of parents.

A senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, Michael Bindas, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss the Carson v. Makin, which challenges Maine's exclusion of religions options from the state's tuition assistance program for residents outside of public school districts who send their children to private schools.