The Education Exchange

A Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute, Williamson M. Evers, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss California Gov. Gavin Newsom's veto of AB 331, a bill that would have made an ethnic studies course a high school graduation requirement.

The president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, Kate Walsh, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss several issues surrounding teachers, including how they are adjusting to online instruction amid Covid-19,  how to best prepare young teachers for the profession, and how to teach the history of slavery in the classroom.

An associate professor of medicine at Stanford University, Dr. Eran Bendavid, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss the risks and benefits of restrictive Covid-19 shutdown policies in different countries, and the related effects on the spread of the disease.

The Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University, Eric Hanushek, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Hanushek's new study, which calculates the expected losses to the annual GDP incurred by the Covid-19 shutdown of schools.

A Post Doctoral Researcher at the Harvard Kennedy School, M. Danish Shakeel, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss their new study, which shows greater gains in student achievement by students in charter schools than their counterparts in traditional district schools. "Charter Schools Show Steeper Upward Trend in Student Achievement than District Schools," by Shakeel Peterson, is available now. https:...

The director of school choice at Reason Foundation and an adjunct scholar at Cato Institute, Corey DeAngelis, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss DeAngelis' new study which finds a correlation between receiving a school voucher in Milwaukee and a reduction in criminal activity. "Private School Choice and Character: More Evidence from Milwaukee," by DeAngelis and Patrick J. Wolf, is available now. ht...

In a replay of this important conversation from July 13, 2020, the 66th Secretary of State and The Denning Professor in Global Business and the Economy at Stanford University, Condoleeza Rice, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss how school choice can help lower-income families get more of out the public education system, and how systemic change will be necessary to improve racial equality in America...

The Editor-in-chief of Education Next, Marty West, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss the findings from the 2020 Education Next Survey, including populism as a factor in people’s views of education policy. “People who are suspicious of elites feel like the elites are in control of our educational system” is one way of interpreting the findings, Peterson says. "Amid Pandemic, Support Soars for Onlin...

The Superintendent of the South Carolina Public Charter School District, Chris G. Neeley, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss how the state plans to reopen for the fall semester during the Covid-19 pandemic.

A former senior attorney at the Institute of Justice and the lead attorney in the Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue case, Richard Komer, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss the outcome of that Supreme Court case, and what it could mean for school choice going forward.

A Senior Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution and co-author of "Learning in the Fast Lane: The Past, Present and Future of Advanced Placement," Chester E. Finn, Jr., joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss standardized testing, and how higher education is moving away from requiring tests as part of the application process amid the Covid-19 pandemic. "Favoritism, rich parents getting new kinds of adva...

A senior fellow and vice president for external affairs at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Robert Pondiscio, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Thomas Sowell's new book, Charter Schools and Their Enemies, and the heavy criticism that charters currently face. Pondiscio's review, "Charter Schools and Their Enemies: At 90, Thomas Sowell reminds charter schools how to fight. And why," is available now...

The 66th Secretary of State and The Denning Professor in Global Business and the Economy at Stanford University, Condoleeza Rice, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss how school choice can help lower-income families get more of out the public education system, and how systemic change will be necessary to improve racial equality in America. Rice's op-ed in the Washington Post, "This moment cries out f...

The Editor in Chief of Education Next, Marty West, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss findings from the 2020 Education Next survey, which reveals what American parents and teachers think of quality of the instruction their children received after schools closed their doors in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. "What American Families Experienced When Covid-19 Closed Their Schools, by Michael B. Hen...

A professor of political science at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Joshua Dunn, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, and the implications it could have for school choice and religious-school parents. Dunn's analysis of the decision, "In Supreme Court Case, a Far-Reaching Win for Religious-School Parents," is...

The CEO of Public Prep, a nonprofit charter school network, Ian Rowe, joins Paul Peterson to discuss the "common struggle" for civil rights in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd in police custody. Rowe, who is also a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, also discusses his charter network's early childhood work: "starting at 18 months old, every younger sibling of a Boys' P...

Marcus WintersAn associate professor in Boston University and Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, Marcus Winters, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Winters' new study, which presents test-score evidence about whether charter schools harm traditional public schools. "We haven't seen big negative effects really for anyone," Winters says. "It puts the burden back on the side that would say that...

A senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Niall Ferguson, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss the 1957-58 "Asian Flu" pandemic, how governments reacted to its outbreak and how it compares to the modern-day response to the Covid-19. In the conversation, Ferguson says that, "we've created one of the deepest recessions in American history." He adds that, "there are two pandemics going on at the moment...

The President and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, Nina Rees, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss how charters have responded to the Covid-19 school shutdowns, and how they can continue to adapt going forward.

The Director of the Public Policy Research Lab at LSU's Manship School of Mass Communication, Michael Henderson, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Louisiana's response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and how the public is responding to the state's stay-at-home order. The full survey results are available here. https://www.lsu.edu/manship/news/2020/may/la-survey-stay-at-home-order.php

The founder and CEO of ModernStates.org, Steve Klinsky, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss how the online platform has stepped up colleges and universities shut down due to the novel coronavirus.

The David and Joan Traitel Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution of Stanford University and a Member of Hoover Institution’s Working Group on Health Care Policy, Scott W. Atlas, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss fear, risk, Covid-19 shutdowns, and how to move forward with reopening schools.

The co-leader of the Eversheds Sutherland Business and Commercial Litigation team, Rocco E. Testani, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss a recent decision from the Sixth Circuit in the Gary B. v. Whitmer case. The court ruled that "substandard outcomes" in Detroit's public schools violated a Constitutional right to a basic education for students, going against decades of precedent.

The director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education, Robin Lake, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss a new report published by CRPE which details how school districts have responded to closures due to Covid-19. The full report, "School Systems Make a Slow Transition From the Classroom to the Cloud," co-written by Lake and Bree Dusseault, is available now. https://www.crpe.org/thelens/school-s...

A senior research and policy associate at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, David Griffith, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss a new study that investigates whether student achievement increases as the market share of charter schools grows. Read Griffith's full report, "Rising Tide: Charter School Market Share and Student Achievement." https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/research/rising-tide-chart...