This week on The Education Gadfly Show, Mike Petrilli goes solo. After recently playing ESA skeptic at an international school choice conference, Mike walks through where he now stands on Education Savings Accounts—laying out the strongest arguments in their favor and explaining why he’s increasingly unconvinced the tradeoffs are worth it.

Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern highlights new research using Michigan data to examine what happens when students with disabilities switch from traditional public schools to charter schools, focusing on changes in attendance and academic outcomes.

Recommended content:

• Joyful classrooms, but zero public transparency: Inside an ESA micro-school | Episode 987 of The Education Gadfly Show —Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• Rethinking ESA policy design — Katherine Bathgate, EdChoice
• How Do Charter Schools Serve Students with Disabilities? Lessons from Michigan —Scott Imberman and Andrew Johnson, REACH (2026)

Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our show in 2026? We would love to hear them. Send them to thegadfly@fordhaminstitute.org

This week, we’re joined by Liz Cohen, vice president of policy at 50CAN, to discuss her book, The Future of Tutoring. Mike and David ask her some tough questions on whether tutoring is worth the investment, and she provides some excellent answers.

Then on the Research Minute, Amber highlights new evidence showing that students’ family background plays a key role not just in college major choice, but also in who goes on to graduate school and how earnings unfold over time.

Recommended content:

• The Future of Tutoring, Lessons from 10,000 School District Tutoring Initiatives —Liz Cohen
• SCHOOLED: Should tutoring play a big role in America’s schools going forward? —Michael J. Petrilli, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• The narrow path to do it right: Lessons from vaccine making for high-dosage tutoring —Mike Goldstein and Bowen Paulle for the Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• Family Background and College Major Choice: Evidence on Major Earnings Growth —Margaret Leighton, Education Finance and Policy (2026)

Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our show in 2026? We would love to hear them. Send them to thegadfly@fordhaminstitute.org

This week, we’re marking a major milestone—Episode 1,000 of The Education Gadfly Show. Instead of focusing on a single topic, we’re branching out for a big-picture conversation about the state of education policy—past, present, and future—with Rick Hess and Tom Loveless, the original co-host of the show and its very first guest. In particular, we wonder whether we were too pessimistic back in the No Child Left Behind era, why education outcomes and other social indicators turned south in the 2010s, and how to kick start progress again.

Then, on the Research Minute, we’re thrilled to welcome Amber Northern back to the show after a long hiatus, as she reflects on what education research has taught us since we started podcasting in 2006—and how its use by policymakers has evolved.

Recommended content:

• SCHOOLED: Learning from Rod Paige, Jim Hunt, and Lou Gerstner —Michael J. Petrilli, Thomas B. Fordham Institute

Now’s a perfect time to catch up on episodes you may have missed. From advanced education and measuring school quality to reducing chronic absenteeism, you can find past episodes here:

https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/resource-types/podcast

Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our show in 2026? We would love to hear them. Send them to thegadfly@fordhaminstitute.org