#963: All about the Educational Choice for Children Act, with Jim Blew
04/02/25 • 39 min
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, 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].
Previous Episode
#962: Replacing DEI with something better, with Richard Kahlenberg
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Richard Kahlenberg, author of Class Matters: The Fight to Get Beyond Race Preferences, Reduce Inequality, and Build Real Diversity at America’s Colleges, joins Mike and David to discuss how Democrats can move beyond DEI and embrace “integration, equal opportunity, and belonging.” Then, on the Research Minute, Amber examines a study on the relationship between standardized test scores, high school GPA, and first-year college performance at Ivy-Plus universities.
Recommended content:
- Richard Kahlenberg, “Time to Ditch DEI in Favor of Something Better,” The Liberal Patriot, (March 5, 2025).
- Richard Kahlenberg, A Way Out of the DEI Wars, PPI (February2025).
- Richard Kahlenberg, “Class Matters: The Fight to Get Beyond Race Preferences, Reduce Inequality, and Build Real Diversity at America’s Colleges,” (March 25, 2025).
- John N. Friedman, Bruce Sacerdote, Douglas O. Staiger, and Michele Tine, Standardized test scores and academic performance at Ivy-Plus colleges, NBER (March 2025)
Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to Stephanie Distler at [email protected].
Next Episode
#964: Why states should keep testing, with Scott Marion
On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Scott Marion, Executive Director of the Center for Assessment, joins Mike and David to discuss why states should maintain annual assessments—even if the Trump Administration waives some federal testing requirements. Then, on the Research Minute, Adam reviews a study comparing surveys and test scores as measures of school quality and predictors of long-term student success.
Recommended content:
- The Case for State Testing, The National Center for the Improvement of Education Assessment, Inc., (March 2025).
- The Case for Statewide School Accountability Systems, The National Center for the Improvement of Education Assessment, Inc., (March 2025).
- Victoria McDougald, “The case for standardized testing,” Thomas B. Fordham Institute (August 1, 2024).
- Michael J. Petrilli, “The best colleges for political diversity,” Thomas B. Fordham Institute (April 3, 2025).
- Joshua Angrist, Peter Hull, Russell Legate-Yang, Parag A. Pathak and Christopher R. Walters, Putting School Surveys to the Test, NBER (2025)
Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to Stephanie Distler at [email protected].
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