The Education Exchange
Paul E. Peterson
A weekly podcast highlighting education policy news, hosted by Paul E. Peterson, Senior editor of Education Next
Episodes
Mentioned books
Apr 21, 2025 • 22min
Ep. 389 - April 21, 2025 - What’s the Matter with Interdistrict Open Enrollment?
Ben Scafidi, Professor and Director of the Education Economics Center at Kennesaw State University, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss the 2025 Kansas Open Enrollment Report and its implications on enrollment policies nationwide.
Apr 14, 2025 • 23min
Ep. 388 - April 14, 2025 - Blue State Blues
Michael Hartney, a fellow at the Hoover Institution and assistant professor of political science at Boston College, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss their new joint research, which finds that states that voted for Kamala Harris in the last presidential election saw more learning loss following the Covid-19 pandemic than those that voted for Donald Trump, according to the most recent results from the 2014 National Assessment of Education Progress.
"Red States Have Seen Less Learning Loss," co-written by Hartney and Peterson, is available now.
https://www.educationnext.org/red-states-have-seen-less-learning-loss-post-pandemic-scores-nations-report-card-naep/
Apr 2, 2025 • 42min
Ep. 387 - April 7, 2025 - The State of Our Schools Five Years after Covid
Thomas Kane, the Walter H. Gale Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss how school districts have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, and how districts need to pivot from short-term recovery to long-term strategies to improve student outcomes.
The latest edition of the Education Recovery Scorecard is available now.
https://educationrecoveryscorecard.org/
Mar 24, 2025 • 47min
Ep. 386 - March 31, 2025 - Reckoning with the Failures of the Covid Era
Stephen Macedo, the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Politics at the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Macedo's new book, "In Covid's Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us."
Mar 20, 2025 • 35min
Ep. 385 - March 24, 2025 - Once-Thriving Charter Schools Sailing into Troubled Waters
Steven Wilson, a Senior Fellow at Center on Reinventing Public Education, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Wilson's new book, The Lost Decade: Returning to the Fight for Better Schools in America.
Mar 12, 2025 • 38min
Ep. 384 - March 17, 2025 - Charter Schools at Center of Urban Policy Dispute in Los Angeles
Jennifer Hochschild, the Henry LaBarre Jayne Professor of Government at Harvard University, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Hochschild's latest book, "Race/Class Conflict and Urban Financial Threat."
Feb 28, 2025 • 28min
Ep. 383 - March 10, 2025 - Why DOGE Cuts at IES Are Incredibly Inefficient
Adam Gamoran, the president of the William T. Grant Foundation, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss how the Trump Administration's contract cancellations will effect the Institute of Education Sciences.
Feb 13, 2025 • 32min
Ep. 382 - March 3, 2025 - Holding the Line in Los Angeles
Nick Melvoin, member of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss how LAUSD have responded to the Palisades wildfires, and reactions to the latest NAEP results in the district.
Feb 5, 2025 • 23min
Ep. 379 - Feb. 10, 2025 - Constitutionality of Religious Charter Schools Suddenly on the Brink
Clint Bolick, the 44th Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss how the Supreme Court agreeing to take up the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond case, and what it could mean for the future of charter schools and religious education in the United States.
Feb 5, 2025 • 23min
Ep. 380 - Feb. 18, 2025 - Students Are Learning About Both America’s Progress and its Racist Legacy, Survey Finds
Brian Kisida, an associate professor at the Truman School of Government and Public Affairs, University of Missouri, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss how much critical race theory has made an impact in America's schools.
"Bridging the Divide over Critical Race Theory in America’s Classrooms," co-written by Kisida, Gary Ritter, Jennifer Gontram, J. Cameron Anglum, Heidi H. Erickson, Darnell Leatherwood and Matthew H. Lee, is available now at EducationNext.org.


