The Education Gadfly Show

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Jim Blew, co-founder of the Defense of Freedom Institute, joins Mike and David to talk about his work on the Educational Choice for Children Act—a federal proposal that could expand educational options for families through school vouchers. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber examines a study on how expanding broadband access for Chicago families during the pandemic benefitted high achieving students but hurt their lower-performing peers.

Recommended content:

• Children’s Tuition Fund, Federal Tax Credit: What You Need to Know About the Educational Choice for Children Act (2025).
• Michael J. Petrilli, “Education reform in red versus blue states,” Thomas B. Fordham Institute (January 9, 2025).
• Dale Chu, “Education at an inflection point,” PPI (March 20, 2025).
• Jared N. Schachner, Julia A. Gwynne, Nicole P. Marwell, Elaine Allensworth, and Marisa de la Torre, Heterogeneous Effects of Closing the Digital Divide During COVID-19 on Student Engagement and Achievement, Annenberg Institute at Brown University (2025)

Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to Stephanie Distler at [email protected].

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Michael Horn joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss what schools can do to protect kids’ mental health and whether social media is making it worse. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber explores why schools seem to make more progress on math tests than reading tests.

Recommended content:

• Michael Horn’s latest book, From Reopen to Reinvent: (Re)Creating School for Every Child
• “Teen girls report record levels of sadness, C.D.C. Finds” —New York Times
• “How to help young people limit screen time—and feel better about how they look” —NPR
• “Is politics making kids depressed?” —Wall Street Journal
• Jonathan Haidt’s Substack, After Babel
• The study that Amber reviewed on the Research Minute: Evan Riehl and Meredith Welch, “Accountability, Test Prep Incentives, and the Design of Math and English Exams,” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management (September 26, 2022)

Feedback Welcome:

Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to our producer Nathaniel Grossman at [email protected].

On this week’s podcast, Dan Goldhaber, the director of CALDER, joins Mike Petrilli, David Griffith, and Amber Northern to discuss what rigorous research says about identifying, developing, and retaining effective teachers.

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, David Deming, a professor of Political Economy at the Harvard Kennedy School, joins Mike and David to discuss his article in The Atlantic arguing that it’s not enough for governments and the private sector to eliminate college-degree requirement for good-paying jobs. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber shares a study investigating the “fade-out effect” in early childhood education programs.

Recommended content:

• “We need supply-side education policy” —David Deming
• “The vibes for career-tech programs are great. But they’re too rare.” —Michael J. Petrilli
• “What Kamala Harris should do on education and training” —Bruno V. Manno
• John A. List and Haruka Uchida, Here Today, Gone Tomorrow? Toward an Understanding of Fade-out in Early Childhood Education Programs, NBER (2024)

Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to Stephanie Distler at [email protected].

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 poverty. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber reviews a study investigating a cost-effective high-dosage tutoring intervention.

Recommended content:

• “How to actually triumph over poverty” —Angela Rachidi, National Review
• “The child tax credit: 25 years later” —Angela Rachidi, Senate Committee on Finance
• “Congress is about to do something amazing: agree to invest in kids” —Catherine Rampell, Washington Post
• Kalena Cortes, Karen Kortecamp, Susanna Loeb, and Carly D. Robinson, “A Scalable Approach to High-Impact Tutoring for Young Readers: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial,” Annenberg Institute at Brown University (January 2024).

Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to Daniel Buck at [email protected].