Mike Miles, superintendent of Houston Independent School District, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to talk about his new book, By Design: How to Transform School Systems, and how districts can use systemic thinking and accountability with support to improve schools.

Then, on the Research Minute, Brian Fitzpatrick reviews new research on how classroom context can affect teacher evaluations, and how schools can use the logic of value-added models to develop better evaluations.

Recommended content:

• By Design: How to Transform School Systems —Mike Miles
• State takeovers are back —Michael J. Petrilli, SCHOOLED
• Texas’s controversial takeover of Houston’s schools—Daniel Buck, for the Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• Classroom Composition Affects Teacher Performance Ratings —William Delgado and Lauren Sartain, EdWorkingPapers (April 2026)

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Tyrone Holmes, chief impact officer at Curriculum Associates, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to discuss the growing parent backlash against education technology and why i-Ready has become one of its most visible targets. They unpack the differences among i-Ready’s assessments, teacher-led resources, and personalized online instruction; consider concerns about screen time and overuse; and discuss why teachers and schools need to communicate more clearly with families about how these tools are being used.

Then, on the Research Minute, Brian Fitzpatrick reviews a new study tracking the effects of Massachusetts charter schools over two decades and examines why their benefits rose, receded, and then rebounded.

Recommended content:

• There’s more to the i-Ready story —Kelly Sia for the Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• There’s actually more to the i-Ready story: A rebuttal —Daniel Carr for the Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• Are Chromebook carts the answer? —Michael J. Petrilli, SCHOOLED
• Can schools escape the digital delusion? | Episode 1026 of The Education Gadfly Show
• How “No Excuses” charter schools went off the rails, with Steven Wilson | Episode 961 of The Education Gadfly Show
• Two Decades of Massachusetts Charter School Effects —Geoffrey Kocks, Blueprint Labs (2026)

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David Griffith talks with neuroscientist and educator Jared Cooney Horvath, author of The Digital Delusion, about whether schools have put too much faith in classroom technology. They discuss what the evidence says about screen-based instruction, why school-sanctioned devices and platforms deserve more scrutiny, and whether artificial intelligence is making the ed-tech problem better or worse.

Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a new study on Texas’s Teacher Incentive Allotment and why performance pay may not be enough to steer effective teachers toward higher-need schools.

Recommended content:

• The Digital Delusion: How Classroom Technology Harms Our Kids’ Learning - And How To Help Them Thrive Again —Jared Cooney Horvath
• Let’s debate LA’s screen time policy —Michael J. Petrilli, SCHOOLED
• Are Chromebook carts the answer? —Michael J. Petrilli, SCHOOLED
• Teacher Sorting and Preferences over School Disadvantage: Evidence from Performance Pay in Texas —Patrick L. Massey, EdWorkingPapers (2026)

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Mike Petrilli takes the mic to consider whether America’s schools need a renewed sense of urgency around raising achievement and closing gaps. He revisits the test-based accountability era, debates whether its biggest contribution may have been less about policy mechanics and more about shifting the national “vibes,” and argues that today’s education leaders may need to be much clearer about what it means to put students first.

Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a new American Enterprise Institute report tracking post-pandemic chronic absenteeism and warning that elevated absence rates may be turning into a long-term condition.

Recommended content:

• The one where Ross gets rebuked by reformers —Michael J. Petrilli, SCHOOLED
• On NCLB, Wiener and Petrilli fight to a draw —Robert Pondiscio, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• The Impact of No Child Left Behind on Student Achievement —Thomas S. Dee and Brian A. Jacob, NBER
• From Attendance Crisis to Chronic Condition? Tracking Post-Pandemic Chronic Absenteeism into 2025 —Nat Malkus, American Enterprise Institute (2026)

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Stefanie Sanford, president of Civic Ventures at Alithi Consulting and Humanitae Philanthropy Advisors and a trustee of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, joins Mike Petrilli to discuss how America’s 250th anniversary could help renew civic life. They explore why civic formation must extend beyond the classroom, how schools can teach both the achievements and failures of American history, and what young people need in order to develop a sense of civic responsibility in an increasingly polarized and digital society.

Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a new study examining gaps in how schools are adopting artificial intelligence, including differences in training, policies, and guidance for students and teachers.

Recommended content:

• Civic Life in the Information Age —Stefanie Sanford
• Civics, citizenship, and America 250 — Chester E. Finn, Jr., Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• Civic Profile —Hoover Institution
• America at 250: Surveying Change and Continuity on Civic Values — by Karlyn Bowman and Nicole Penn, AEI
• AI Diffusion Gaps: Unequal Integration of AI Across K-12 Schools —Christopher Campos and John D. Singleton, NBER (2026)

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Charles Barone of the National Parents Union joins Mike Petrilli to debate the Senate’s bipartisan READ Act. Would additional federal funding help states strengthen teacher preparation and expand evidence-based reading instruction, or could a larger federal role politicize the science-of-reading movement and repeat the mistakes of Reading First?

Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern reviews a new study examining why tutoring’s impact on student achievement tends to shrink when programs scale up.

Recommended content:

• Is the Senate’s READ Act a Reading First redux? —Michael J. Petrilli, SCHOOLED
• The READ Act: A National Commitment to Literacy —National Parents Union
• From the Teacher’s Desk: A Science of Reading Progress Report —David Griffith and Brian Fitzpatrick, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• Too Good to Last: The True Story of Reading First —Sol Stern, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• What Impacts Should We Expect From Tutoring at Scale? Exploring Meta-Analytic Generalizability —Matthew A. Kraft, Beth E. Schuele, and Grace T. Falken, SAGE Journals (2026)

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Mike Petrilli flies solo to discuss the latest Long-Term Trend NAEP results and why the bounce-back among nine-year-olds deserves more attention. While America’s education recovery is far from complete, especially for older students, Mike argues that the rebound in reading and partial recovery in math suggest that federal dollars, tutoring, economic trends, and perhaps science of reading reforms may be helping younger students regain lost ground.

Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines new evidence from Michigan on which school attendance strategies are associated with better student outcomes.

Recommended content:

• A Surprising Sliver of Hope in New NAEP Scores for the Lowest-Performing Kids Chad Aldeman, The 74
• Declining NAEP Scores Are Flashing Red Lights for the Covid Generation —Michael J. Petrilli, EducationNext
• Anatomy of a ‘Learning Recession’: Academic Losses Began in 2013, Report Finds —Kevin Mahnken, The 74
• Experts say schools could recover pandemic losses by 2028. What then? —Jay Mathews, The Washington Post
• The Learning Legacy of Randi Weingarten —The Editorial Board, The Wall Street Journal
• Imperfect Attendance: Toward a fairer measure of student absenteeism —Jing Liu, Ph.D., Thomas B. Fordham Institute (2022)
• Identifying Effective Attendance Strategies in Michigan —Jeremy Singer, Sarah Winchell Lenhoff, and Angela Lyle, EdWorkingPapers (2026)

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Patrick McAlister, principal of PM Strategies and former director of the Indianapolis Mayor’s Office of Education Innovation, and Shaina Cavazos, the office’s current director, join The Education Gadfly Show to discuss charter growth after the replication era. Drawing on their experience with closures and mergers in Indianapolis, they explain why authorizers and charter boards may need new approaches as enrollment declines and the sector matures.

Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines new research on content rich reading instruction and finds that while teachers are using strong foundational skills curricula, students often get too few chances to build fluency and vocabulary.

Recommended content:

• Beyond Replication: What Responsible Charter Growth Looks Like Now —Jed Wallace, CharterFolk
• The 10-year test for durable schools —Robert Pondiscio, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• Do Authorizer Evaluations Predict the Success of New Charter Schools? — Adam Kho, Ph.D., Shelby Leigh Smith, and Douglas Lee Lauen, Ph.D., Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• Bridging the Divide: Connecting Word Recognition and Language Comprehension in Early Literacy —Anna Jennerjohn, Sara Rutherford-Quach, Lauren J. Cassidy, Katrina Woodworth, Sarah Dec, and Dan Reynolds, SRI (2026)

Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our show? We would love to hear them. Send them to thegadfly@fordhaminstitute.org