The Education Exchange

A professor of Education Policy at the University of Arkansas, Patrick J. Wolf, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Wolf’s new research, which finds that charter schools in seven U.S. cities are more cost effective than their traditional public school counterparts, according to test results. The study, "Making it Count: The Productivity of Public Charter Schools in Seven U.S. Cities," co-written with Corey A. DeAngelis, Cassidy Syftestad, Larry D. Maloney and Jay F. May, is available now. https://scdp.uark.edu/making-it-count-the-productivity-of-public-charter-schools-in-seven-u-s-cities/

The president of the National Education Association, Becky Pringle, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss how to best open schools, and debate the safety protocols needed to get teachers back into classrooms, including the prioritization of teachers receiving the Covid-19 vaccine.

The Dean Fellow and head of the Teacher Preparation Program at the Relay Graduate School of Education in Memphis, Lequite Manning, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Relay's teacher training and placement techniques, and how they have been adapted amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

A Distinguished Doctoral Fellow and Graduate Assistant at the University of Arkansas' Department of Education Reform, Martha Bradley-Dorsey, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Bradley-Dorsey's thesis on how traditional school bureaucracies are limiting access to school choice.

The President and CEO of EdChoice, Robert Enlow, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss how the majority of public schools are holding classes online only, more than 60 percent of private schools are serving students in person, and the implications of that stark difference.

The associate director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington Bothell, Betheny Gross, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Gross's new research, which illustrates that the surge in Covid-19 cases is slowing efforts to reopen schools.

The Director of the Public Policy Research Lab at Louisiana State University, Michael Henderson, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss findings from the latest Education Next survey. The poll surveys parents on their experiences as schools attempted to reopen amid the Covid-19 pandemic. https://www.educationnext.org/pandemic-parent-survey-finds-perverse-pattern-students-more-likely-to-be-attending-school-in-person-where-covid-is-spreading-more-rapidly/

The senior director of PRI's Center for Education, Lance Izumi, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Izumi's new research, which details the obstacles students trapped in failing schools face when trying to switch to charter schools Izumi's research brief, "New Obstacles Hinder Students Trapped in Failing Schools from Escaping to Charter Schools," is available now. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-brief-new-obstacles-hinder-students-trapped-in-failing-schools-from-escaping-to-charter-schools-301200866.html

The director of National Litigation & General counsel for the Goldwater Institute, Jon Riches, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss a case before the New Jersey Supreme Court, which will decide whether taxpayers will be required to pay for teachers' release time. An op-ed by Riches and Justin Meyers, "The N.J. Teachers Who Get Paid Not to Teach," is available at the Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-n-j-teachers-who-get-paid-not-to-teach-11609710168

A Distinguished Senior Fellow and President Emeritus at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Chester E. Finn, Jr., joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Finn's new policy analysis, which looks into the state of school accountability five years after the implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act. Finn's analysis, "School Accountability — Past, Present, and Future," is available now: https://www.hoover.org/research/school-accountability-past-present-and-future