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
- 505
- Years Active
- 2015 - 2025
#904: Residential mobility, student achievement, and charter schools, with Douglas Lauen
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Douglas Lauen, a professor of public policy and sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, joins Mike to discuss residential mobility,…
#903: Reducing poverty with the child tax credit, with Angela Rachidi
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Angela Rachidi, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, joins Mike to discuss whether a reformed and refundable child tax credit can reduce…
#902: Reforming New York’s Regents Exams, with Ray Domanico
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Ray Domanico, the director of education policy at the Manhattan institute, joins Mike to discuss whether New York should eliminate the Regents Exams as h…
#901: Charter schools just keep winning, with Debbie Veney
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Debbie Veney, a senior vice president at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, joins Mike to discuss the growth in the charter sector since 2…
#900: The best and worst of ed reform in 2023, with Checker Finn
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Checker Finn, Fordham’s president emeritus—and the original Education Gadfly—joins Mike and David to discuss the best and worst developments in education…
#899: The District of Columbia’s voucher program turns twenty, with Kara Arundel
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Kara Arundel, a senior reporter at K-12 Dive, joins Mike to discuss two decades of private school choice in D.C. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber repo…
#898: How much competition public schools face, with Jeanette Luna
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Jeanette Luna, a production and research associate at the Fordham Institute, joins Mike to discuss the competitive pressures facing America’s largest sch…
#897: Addressing grade inflation, with Tim Daly
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Tim Daly, the CEO of Ed Navigator, joins Mike to discuss the causes and harms of grade inflation—and how to fix it. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber r…
#896: The fiscal cliff and teacher layoffs, with Chad Aldeman
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Chad Aldeman, the founder of Read Not Guess and a columnist for The 74, joins Mike to discuss how the end of COVID relief funds could cause a wave of tea…
#895: Knowledge and the science of reading, with Natalie Wexler
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Natalie Wexler, host of the Knowledge Matters podcast, joins Mike to discuss the connection between knowledge building and reading comprehension. Then, o…
#894: The victims of grade inflation, with Tim Donahue
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Tim Donahue, an English teacher at the Greenwich Country Day School, joins Mike to discuss who loses when grades are inflated. Then, on the Research Minu…
#893: When to hold kids back, with Umut Özek and Louis Mariano
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Umut Özek and Louis Mariano, researchers at the Rand Corporation, join Mike to discuss whether grade retention helps or harms students. Then, on the Rese…
#892: A solution to teacher shortages, with Kirsten Baesler
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Kirsten Baesler, the superintendent of North Dakota, joins Mike to discuss her state’s new teacher and principal apprenticeship programs. Then, on the Re…
#891: The fight for school choice in the Lone Star State, with Denisha Allen
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Denisha Allen, a senior fellow at the American Federation for Children, joins Mike to discuss if school choice can win a victory in Texas’s special legis…
#890: How exclusionary zoning impedes educational opportunity, with Richard Kahlenberg
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Richard Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute, joins Mike to discuss how zoning policies price poor people out of high quality …
#889: The trials and triumphs of charter schools over the past decade, with Nina Rees
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Nina Rees, the president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, joins Mike to discuss the state of charters as she plans to step do…
#888: Building bridges in education reform, with Frances Messano
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Frances Messano, the CEO of NewSchools Venture fund, joins Mike to discuss the Building Bridges Initiative and its call to action, A Generation at Risk. …
#887: Bringing accountability back to American education, with Checker Finn
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Checker Finn, Fordham’s president emeritus, joins Mike to discuss why and how to bring accountability back to American schools. Then, on the Research Min…
#886: Achievement gaps among advanced students, with Adam Tyner
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Adam Tyner, Fordham’s national research director, joins Mike to discuss disparities by race and socioeconomic status among America’s highest achieving st…
#885: Virtual teachers are back, with Linda Jacobson
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Linda Jacobson, a senior writer at The 74, joins Mike to discuss why more students are attending in-person classes with a virtual teacher. Then, on the R…