The Education Exchange

A decline in birth rates in the U.S. could mean that the school-aged population will spiral downward in the next decade and beyond. Would this be a disaster for schools? Or could there be a silver lining? Mike Petrilli, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss his new article, "The Baby Bust Goes to School." https://www.educationnext.org/baby-bust-goes-to-school-falling-birthrates-crisis-opportunity/

What tradeoffs are involved when we choose to spend huge sums of money to slow global warming? Are there more cost-effective ways to do more good in the world? Bjorn Lomborg, president of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, sits down with Paul E. Peterson to discuss his research on the impact on global temperatures of goals set in the Paris climate accord and how the funds being used to meet those goals could be better spent. You can read about his research at https://www.lomborg.com/press-release-research-reveals-negligible-impact-of-paris-climate-promises

Researchers studying school choice programs often look at the impact of using a voucher on student test scores or high school graduation. A new study of the longer-term impacts of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program finds that students who used vouchers to attend private school were less likely to be involved with criminal activity and paternity disputes. This week, Paul Peterson speaks with Corey DeAngelis, an education policy analyst at the Cato Institute,and co-author, with Patrick J. Wolf, of the new study, which is described in "Private School Choice Helps Students Avoid Prison and Unplanned Pregnancies." https://www.educationnext.org/private-school-choice-helps-students-avoid-prison-unplanned-pregnancies/

A new study finds that astonishingly high numbers of elementary school teacher candidates fail their professional licensing tests each year, with the highest failure rates among candidates of color. The tests assess subject knowledge in English, science, mathematics, and social studies. The study, conducted by the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), also finds that teacher preparation programs give little attention to the content knowledge that teacher candidates need. Kate Walsh, president of the NCTQ, talks with Paul E. Peterson about the new report, "A Fair Chance: Simple steps to strengthen and diversify the teacher workforce," as well as what must change so that more new teachers can enter classrooms with the knowledge they need to do their jobs well. https://www.nctq.org/publications/A-Fair-Chance

When the Supreme Court ruled last year in Janus v. Afscme that unions could no longer collect agency fees from employees who choose not to join, many predicted a major decline in union membership. But according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, public union membership declined less than 1% in 2018. In this episode, Paul E. Peterson talks with Daniel DiSalvo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, the author of a recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, “Janus Barely Dents Public-Sector Union Membership," and a new report "Public-Sector Unions After Janus: An Update." https://www.wsj.com/articles/janus-barely-dents-public-sector-union-membership-11550100582?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1 https://www.manhattan-institute.org/public-sector-unions-after-janus?mod=article_inline

The Florida Tax Credit (FTC) scholarship program is the nation’s largest private school choice program. A new study finds that students who enroll in private schools through the FTC program are more likely to go to and graduate from college than their public school peers. Matt Chingos talks with Paul E. Peterson about the study, “The Effects of the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program on College Enrollment and Graduation," which he co-authored with Tomas Monarrez and Daniel Kuehn. Read the full report here: https://www.urban.org/research/publication/effects-florida-tax-credit-scholarship-program-college-enrollment-and-graduation

Most studies of charter schooling look at how charters compare with traditional schools at one point in time, but the success of the reform depends on whether the charter sector improves over time. So writes Eric Hanushek and his colleagues, the authors of a new study looking at changes over time in the charter school sector in Texas. Hanushek joins Paul E. Peterson this week to discuss the paper, "The Evolution of Charter School Quality," co-written with Patrick Baude, Marcus Casey and Steven G. Rivkin. http://hanushek.stanford.edu/publications/evolution-charter-school-quality

Polling data reveal that when it comes to most debates in education policy, the divide between Republicans and Democrats is not growing. Only on issues like teacher tenure and merit pay is public opinion becoming more polarized. David Houston, a Post Doctoral Research Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss his latest paper, "Polarization and the Politics of Education: What Moves Partisan Opinion?" https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0895904818823745

Nathan Glazer, urban sociologist and scholar of ethnicity, race and education, died recently at the age of 95. On this episode, Peter Skerry, Professor of Political Science at Boston College, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Glazer’s work and the ideas he wrestled with.

As teachers strike or threaten to strike in several cities, one of the key issues is pay. But while teachers want higher salaries, school districts face a number of financial challenges. One source of strain in school district budgets is what economist Ben Scafidi calls the staffing surge, a major increase in non-teaching staff hired over the past few decades. Ben Scafidi joins EdNext senior editor Paul E. Peterson to discuss his report, "Back to the Staffing Surge." https://www.edchoice.org/research/back-staffing-surge/