The solution to the new teacher-affordable-housing crisis? Roommates! www.pew.org/en/research-... @pewresearch.org @cedr.bsky.social @palan57.bsky.social @larryferlazzo.bsky.social
President of the Fordham Institute, executive editor of Education Next, proud father.
161 followers 294 following 77 posts
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The solution to the new teacher-affordable-housing crisis? Roommates! www.pew.org/en/research-... @pewresearch.org @cedr.bsky.social @palan57.bsky.social @larryferlazzo.bsky.social
LIVE #LearningTuesday sessions return on 9/2 w/ a vital discussion on the fed role in education w/ John King; Margaret Spellings; Adam Gamoran of @wtgrantfdn.bsky.social ; @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social of Fordham Institute; Ruth López Turley of Kinder Institute for Urban Research
So much to say on this! Let me begin with a rant based on an offhand remark that @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social made about emails/texts from schools: "too much is better than too little." I do not believe this to be true! fordhaminstitute.org/national/res... 1/n
Thanks Paul
Some good discussion with @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social here, including on district finances and teacher compensation. fordhaminstitute.org/national/res...
{new} Join us TOMORROW for a webinar on the education research we need for the future: eduprogress.org/building-a-n...
Plenty of schools have no-zeroes policies. And most teachers hate it, a new survey finds www.chalkbeat.org/2025/08/20/m... @chalkbeat.org @kalynbelsha.bsky.social
Does where you go to high school affect whether you vote as an adult? My working paper estimating high school effects on civic engagement is now posted on Annenberg: edworkingpapers.com/ai25-1260.
Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters wants to take us all back to Lake Wobegon fordhaminstitute.org/national/com...
As @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social says, it's a "education reform-climate change double header" on the Gadfly. I love that @matthewakraft.com is swinging for the fences on the big issues and the discussion that gets into the thorny politics of climate change. fordhaminstitute.org/national/res...
🌎Climate change is an urgent education policy issue🎓 I make the case about why teaching about climate science and investing in resilient, sustainable schools is smart education policy on Fordham's Education Gadfly podcast w/ @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social fordhaminstitute.org/national/res...
FYI @mpolikoff.bsky.social @jenjennings.bsky.social @kevincarey1.bsky.social @mattbarnum.bsky.social @danagoldstein.bsky.social @joshua-goodman.com @bethhawkins.bsky.social @imbernomics.bsky.social @kirabojackson.bsky.social @matthewakraft.com @chingos.bsky.social @conorpwilliams.bsky.social
This can't be good for learning.
Via @burningearning.bsky.social & Yascha Mounk thedispatch.com/article/soci...
Conscientiousness is collapsing.
FYI @mpolikoff.bsky.social @jenjennings.bsky.social @kevincarey1.bsky.social @mattbarnum.bsky.social @danagoldstein.bsky.social @joshua-goodman.com @bethhawkins.bsky.social @imbernomics.bsky.social @kirabojackson.bsky.social @matthewakraft.com @chingos.bsky.social @conorpwilliams.bsky.social
This is great news for kids and families, and should boost student achievement over time, too.
GOOD NEWS FOR A CHANGE Divorce Is Down, Family Stability Is Up www.aei.org/articles/is-...
I agree that politics/local school boards often gets in the way of student achievement), and making the right metric (student growth) more transparent to people in elections (change off year elections) seems sensible, but not sure we should expect big gains. Vlad, we need more ideas!
Bret Stephens is right, as much as I hate to admit it: Not everything Trump does is bad. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/29/o...
Terrific convo w/ Vlad Kogan about his new book: No Adult Left Behind. I got an early look at the book and it's terrific! A few more thoughts 👇👇👇 fordhaminstitute.org/national/res...
Hmm. OK, use "basic" instead of "proficient." How would you interpret the past decade of data? @plthomasedd.bsky.social
Analysis: How do kids in top-spending states perform on the NAEP? Not as well as you'd think. @chadaldeman.bsky.social reports
Gotta be on Team Read To Your Kids. Gotta be.
"School violence is often just seen as student to student. We need to expand that definition to include student to staff,” one former principal said.
OPINION: If we are serious about improving student outcomes, we can’t treat teacher retention as an afterthought, write Linda Darling-Hammond & @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social for @hechingerreport.org. hechingerreport.org/opinion-here...
Thanks Morgan
An unexpected byline, and an excellent argument!
@joshua-goodman.com @mpolikoff.bsky.social @cedr.bsky.social @alexanderrusso.bsky.social @evanrstone.bsky.social
Linda Darling Hammond and me in the @hechingerreport.org: Here’s how we hold on to experienced teachers: Give them the support they need If we are serious about improving student outcomes, we can’t treat teacher retention as an afterthought hechingerreport.org/opinion-here...
The pandemic drove chronic absenteeism rates sky high. In Massachusetts and elsewhere, kids still aren't showing up to learn. But there are solutions! The @bostonglobe.com reviews ideas for getting kids back to school. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/07/26/m...
Charter school authorizers like Fordham don't say no to proposed charters because we fear innovation. It's because some proposals are just bad. 🎧 Watch or listen now: fordhaminstitute.org/national/res...
One thing I don't understand about the politics here is that if the state has a lot of latitude over what the scholarships can be used for it seems like a savvy governor might be able to find ways to hand out scholarships that don't involve anybody leaving public schools and/or that subsidize TPSs.
Trump’s school choice initiative puts Democratic governors in a bind fordhaminstitute.org/national/com...
Meaning that if they have no latitude, they simply won't opt in?
Here ya go: fordhaminstitute.org/national/com...
Hey Bay Area peeps, TUNE IN at 9 am pacific to @kqedforum.bsky.social for an episode on the dismantling of the Department of Education, with @jilltucker.bsky.social Noliwe Rooks & yours truly. www.kqed.org/forum/201010... @kqednews.kqed.org @alexanderrusso.bsky.social
Thanks Dan!
@michaelpetrilli.bsky.social is flying solo again on the Gadfly in this riff on school choice & regulation. I'm a fan of these episodes that show internal (to Mike) thoughts/debates. They show that an advocate label on an issue can miss a lot of nuance. fordhaminstitute.org/national/res...
My thoughts on the school choice dilemma facing Democratic governors: wsj.com/opinion/demo... @mpolikoff.bsky.social @paul-bruno.com @joshua-goodman.com @joshcowenmi.bsky.social
New Federal Tax Credit Boosts School Choice—but Blue States Face Big Decision Governors will now decide whether to accept private-school tuition subsidies wsj.com/us-news/educ... @mattbarnum.bsky.social
My recent article with @joshua-goodman.com on Massachusetts school enrollment shifts was discussed on the Education Gadfly Show! They also highlight @aefplivehandbook.bsky.social, a resource full of rigorous work in education policy. Highly recommend the listen! fordhaminstitute.org/national/res...
OK, I'll admit it, it was a real thrill to speak with @ailsachang.bsky.social on NPR's All Things Considered last night. Give it a listen! www.npr.org/2025/07/15/n...
11 thoughts about the massive layoffs at the U.S. Department of Education fordhaminstitute.org/national/com... (From March, but it holds up, and is of course newly relevant.)
On this particular program, it's going to be really hard to claim that it takes money away from public schools. The money is coming from taxpayers all over the country. Sure, if kids leave public schools, districts lose their state share. But that's no different from them moving out of state.
Hi Peter. Yeah, there's an interesting discrepancy between polling and referendum on choice. As you know, it's always easier to get people to vote "no" on anything. And when the unions spend millions on negative advertising...
FYI @joshcowenmi.bsky.social @mpolikoff.bsky.social @mattbarnum.bsky.social @danagoldstein.bsky.social @laurameckler.bsky.social @chingos.bsky.social
I believe so, though there's disagreement about how far states could go in regulating the SGOs. Of course, if they did what you're proposing, they might as well not opt into the program, because few private schools would participate.
Democrats’ School Choice Dilemma The Medicaid expansion put GOP governors in a tough spot. Republicans have flipped the script. www.wsj.com/opinion/demo...
Amber to the rescue! www.ed.gov/about/news/p... @jillbarshay.bsky.social
The Predictive Power of Standardized Tests Middle-school scores preview college and career outcomes educationnext.org/predictive-p... @jenjennings.bsky.social @mpolikoff.bsky.social @cedr.bsky.social
Interested in recent changes in public school enrollment patterns but don't have time to read? Here's the podcast version, via @educationnext.bsky.social: Apple podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e... Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/26fO... SoundCloud: soundcloud.com/education-ex...
Huge news Senate parliamentarian nixes school voucher program from tax bill www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
A type of "enrollment decline" worth celebrating! @cedr.bsky.social @jenjennings.bsky.social @larryferlazzo.bsky.social @joshua-goodman.com
America’s Incarceration Rate Is About to Fall Off a Cliff Long sentences and recidivism kept prison populations high for decades, but prisons are now starting to empty. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Thanks Dan!
It was the "full @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social" on the Gadfly today! I enjoyed hearing Mike wrestle w/ some of concerns about choice (I too have mixed feelings) + it's good to be reminded that there was a time when the country made pretty ed good progress. 👇 fordhaminstitute.org/national/res...
Might we someday be able to determine whether someone has achieved their full genetic potential in terms of education attainment? Maybe! www.educationnext.org/measuring-st...
No, anti-vaxxers, it's not the MMR vaccine. It's the DSM + IDEA. Autism Rates Have Increased 60-Fold. I Played a Role in That. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/23/o...
Could an AI-Driven ‘Job Apocalypse’ Push the Best and Brightest into Teaching? Recessions nudge college grads toward reliable, safe careers in education. Artificial intelligence disruptions could do the same. www.the74million.org/article/coul... @larryferlazzo.bsky.social @jenjennings.bsky.social
Yup, OK, thanks Paul
My 2 cents: any social media platform is only as good as the effort you put in. I engage with lots of K-12 folks on here. If you don't put in the time to find and engage with folks, you don't build up a reliable network. LinkedIn is not great for me, but I only visit occasionally. That's on me.
Makes sense, thanks Kevin
I think LinkedIn is better for getting consistent engagement from a few hundred people who are highly in my professional network, while this is better for engagement from normal people out there on social media who've never met before.
I will try LinkedIn. Thanks Anya!
Yup lots of higher ed talk for sure. Of course, there's a lot of higher ed news these days!
Thanks Larry!
Thanks Morgan. Yeah, some days Twitter is pretty active. It certainly leans more to the right than it used to, but there are plenty of others engaging too.
Yes. I haven't found this site to have much professional value (certainly nowhere near what value Twitter provided at its peak). I think it's approximately on par with LinkedIn for me right now. Are you still on Twitter? Is there anything useful over there?
@mpolikoff.bsky.social @jenjennings.bsky.social @joshua-goodman.com @paul-bruno.com @kevincarey1.bsky.social @larryferlazzo.bsky.social @imbernomics.bsky.social @anya1anya.bsky.social @benjaminjriley.bsky.social @tomdee.bsky.social @conorpwilliams.bsky.social
So folks, I've been on here a few weeks, and it strikes me that: 1) K12 content is like a needle in a haystack. 2) Nothing gets much engagement. Is that fair?
End of course exams are working in North Carolina. Other states should take heed. @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social
HOORAY FOR THIS We Started Grouping Students by Reading Ability vs. Grade. Here’s What Happened www.the74million.org/article/we-s... @mpolikoff.bsky.social @ehanford.bsky.social
Yup, agreed. Also, it doesn't really matter much one way or the other: fordhaminstitute.org/national/com...
Hey Bluesky peeps, this is going to be RIGHT up your alley! :) Starting in 10 minutes... “Can the President Shut Down the Department of Education?” fedsoc.org/events/can-t... @jenjennings.bsky.social @paul-bruno.com @mpolikoff.bsky.social @joshua-goodman.com @kevincarey1.bsky.social
Well said, Morgan (and Ashley). Glad to see the points on discipline.
"America’s future hinges on the success of public education. It’s high time for our elected officials to act as if they’re invested in it." The latest from me and Ashley Jochim www.realcleareducation.com/articles/202...
OK PEOPLE, WE'VE GOT A DEBATE! Shaka Mitchell responds to @brookings.edu's Jon Valant on ECCA, the school choice tax credit program included in the "Big Beautiful Bill" fordhaminstitute.org/national/com... @jenjennings.bsky.social @joshcowenmi.bsky.social @kevincarey1.bsky.social
The widely repeated and entirely false claim that teacher experience “doesn’t matter much” after two years did lasting damage to the profession. New report summing up teacher experience, working conditions & retention lit.
That teachers don’t improve much after the first few years was the accepted wisdom when I started grad school. Fortunately, with better research, we now know that to be wrong. Valuable brief here from LDH/LPI and Fordham.
PS - Adam's research minute! OMG, my world is shaken! The new Vlad Kogen + Stéphane Lavertu + Zachary Peskowitz paper on the connections between student performance & school board elections is super interesting: edworkingpapers.com/sites/defaul... 6/6
We clearly need more concrete evidence about how to make schools places for better teacher growth. And knowing that teachers can grow later in their careers doesn't tell us how to structure salary schedules since we also worry about, e.g., early career attrition. 5/n
I also believe that the environment in schools matters for teacher development (but maybe there's some sorting of teachers into different schools too). That said, it's hard to know what to do policy wise with all this information. 4/n
Relatedly, we are far less sure about whether the gains are statistically significant. See the below figure from the report. You can see the slope (gains in teacher value added) is much flatter even after year 3 (regardless of type of school). 3/n
I do think there's evidence of experience gains that can go beyond 5 years, though as the report aptly shows, the evidence is far more mixed for mid- and late-career benefits from experience than (the steep) gains that tend to be found early career. 2/n
Debates about the returns to teacher experience, always in fashion! Good discussion about the new Learning Policy Institute summary of evidence (it's not quite a formal meta analysis) on teacher experience. A few thoughts 👇 fordhaminstitute.org/national/res... 1/n
This high school graduation season represents a bittersweet milestone: The class of 2025 is the largest in American history. And if current trends continue, it will hold that record forever.
That's right, we teamed up with Linda Darling Hammond on this one. Who says bipartisanship is dead? :) @cedr.bsky.social @mpolikoff.bsky.social @jenjennings.bsky.social
New from Fordham & the Learning Policy Institute: Think Again: Do the returns to teacher experience fizzle out? fordhaminstitute.org/national/res...
Hmm. IMO, inclusion is almost always better than exclusion. Let them play!
Public opinion about immigration is complicated. Public opinion about sending federal agents into K12 schools searching for children is not. Such actions are broadly condemned across the political spectrum.
David Brooks to Democrats: "...you have to be willing to take on your activist groups: We’re going to reform schools in ways the unions don’t like....We’re going to fix how blue cities are governed in a way the groups don’t like." nytimes.com/2025/06/05/o...
Despite strong opposition to her nomination from some conservative groups, Penny Schwinn faced relatively light questioning from senators Thursday as she seeks to become second in charge of the U.S. Department of Education. @lrj417.bsky.social reports www.the74million.org/article/amid...
I guess it depends on how we define "marginal student." Below some level of readiness, I think we can agree it's a bad bet. (Say, students at the 30th percentile in reading and math and below.) @jenjennings.bsky.social
This is a good overview of the research on the college wage premium, but as Freddie deBoer & Bryan Caplan have argued, a key question is whether college is good for young people who aren't strong students (nope!). There's no benefit to dropping out of college. @zbleemer.bsky.social
Why Skepticism About College Is Hard to Shake Americans’ feelings about the benefits of higher education don’t always match the facts. theatlantic.com/newsletters/... @theatlantic.com @isabelfattal.bsky.social
See this excellent study by Joseph Paul Robinson & Sarah Lubienski The Development of Gender Achievement Gaps in Mathematics and Reading During Elementary and Middle School: Examining Direct Cognitive Assessments and Teacher Ratings www.researchgate.net/publication/...
Back in 2021, I argued that teacher bias might be one cause of boys' underperformance, as teachers tend to conflate boys' (decent) reading skills with their (antsy) behavior. fordhaminstitute.org/national/com...
Via @clairecm.bsky.social: Why Boys Are Behind in School From the Start As the expectations for kindergarten have risen, the changes have put boys, who tend to mature later, at a disadvantage. nytimes.com/2025/05/31/u... @danagoldstein.bsky.social @richardreeves.bsky.social