The Education Gadfly Show
For more than 15 years, the Fordham Institute has been hosting a weekly podcast, The Education Gadfly Show. Each week, you’ll get lively, entertaining discussions of recent education news, usually featuring Fordham’s Mike Petrilli and David Griffith. Then the wise Amber Northern will recap a recent research study. For questions or comments on the podcast, contact its producer, Stephanie Distler, at [email protected].
- Update frequency
- every 7 days
- Average duration
- 24 minutes
- Episodes
- 507
- Years Active
- 2015 - 2025
#767: The fight to get kids back in class five days a week - 04/28/21
On this week’s podcast, Clarice Schillinger, founder of Keeping Kids in School PAC, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss her experience leading the movement for five-day-a-week, in-perso…
#766: The U.S. Department of Education’s puzzling take on testing in 2021 - 04/21/21
On this week’s podcast, Dale Chu, Mike Petrilli, and David Griffith discuss the Biden Administration’s flawed decision-making on testing waivers. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines how i…
A victory for charter school funding in Oklahoma - 04/14/21
On this week’s podcast, Chris Brewster, president of the Oklahoma Public Charter School Association, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss how a recently settled lawsuit will boost charte…
The pandemic’s silver lining: School choice victories in statehouses nationwide - 04/07/21
On this week’s podcast, John Schilling, president of the American Federation for Children, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss a string of school choice victories in this year’s state l…
Good news on instructional materials - 03/31/21
On this week’s podcast, Eric Hirsch, founding executive director of EdReports, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss how teachers are increasingly gaining access to high-quality instructi…
Accelerating learning post-pandemic - 03/24/21
On this week’s podcast, David Steiner, executive director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to explain why schools should embrace acceleratio…
How to get high-dosage tutoring right - 03/17/2021
On this week’s podcast, Mike Petrilli and David Griffith are joined by Michael Goldstein, founder of Match Education in Boston, and Bowen Paulle, a faculty member at the University of Amsterdam, to d…
Biden’s relief bill will cut child poverty in half. What’s not to like? - 03/10/21
On this week’s podcast, Scott Winship, resident scholar and director of poverty studies at the American Enterprise Institute, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss the expanded and fully …
A view from the frontlines of the reopening wars - 03/03/21
On this week’s podcast, education policy wonk Karen Vaites joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss her experience leading a return-to-school movement in New York City. On the Research Minut…
Does Biden have the right tack on school reopenings? - 02/24/21
On this week’s podcast, Mike Petrilli, David Griffith, and Dale Chu debate whether President Biden’s soft touch will succeed in getting schools in blue districts to reopen. On the Research Minute, Am…
More parents now admit that their kids have fallen behind academically. Can that awareness power a new wave of reform? - 02/17/21
On this week’s podcast, Bibb Hubbard, founder and president of Learning Heroes, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss how to leverage parents’ newfound awareness of their children's acade…
Hard evidence on charter schools and district finances - 02/10/21
On this week’s podcast, Mike Petrilli and David Griffith are joined by Mark Weber, a special analyst for education policy at the New Jersey Policy Perspective, to discuss the new report he authored f…
Federal Covid-19 stimulus, round three - 02/03/21
On this week’s podcast, Vic Klatt, a principal of Penn Hill Group, joins David Griffith and Checker Finn to discuss what the latest proposed federal stimulus package would mean for America’s schools.…
School Choice Week 2021 - 01/27/21
On this week’s podcast, Mike Petrilli and David Griffith are joined by Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week, which is this week, to discuss how the school choice movement has b…
The education issues facing state legislatures in 2021 - 01/20/21
On this week’s podcast, Patricia Levesque, chief executive officer of ExcelinEd, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss what’s on the ed reform agenda in state legislative sessions nationw…
Another reason we need to test students in 2021 - 1/13/21
On this week’s podcast, Eric Parsons, associate teaching professor of economics at the University of Missouri and co-author of our new report “Bridging the Covid Divide,” joins Mike Petrilli and Davi…
What does Miguel Cardona’s time in Connecticut imply about his future in Washington? - 01/06/21
On this week’s podcast, Subira Gordon, executive director of Connecticut’s ConnCAN, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss President-elect Biden’s education secretary nominee, Miguel Cardo…
Emily Oster and Noelle Ellerson Ng answer the big question: Will schools reopen this spring? - 12/16/20
On this week’s podcast, Noelle Ellerson Ng, associate executive director at AASA, the School Superintendents Association, and Emily Oster, Professor of Economics at Brown University, join Mike Petril…
Assessing Joe Biden’s early childhood plans - 12/09/20
On this week’s podcast, Katharine Stevens, visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss President-elect Biden’s childcare and pre-K plans. …
The legacy of Lamar Alexander - 12/02/20
On this week’s podcast, Mike Petrilli and David Griffith are joined by Checker Finn, who discusses Senator Lamar Alexander’s K–12 education legacy. On the Research Minute, Adam Tyner examines researc…