The Education Exchange

The Chief Executive Officer for ExcelinEd, Patricia Levesque, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss the Biden Administration’s recent policies that could limit the ability to open new charter schools. Levesque's op-ed, "A Case of Charter School Sabotage," is available now at The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/charter-school-sabotage-biden-teachers-union-public-school-achievement-gap...

An Associate Professor of Education at Ursinus College, John P. Spencer, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Spencer's new book, which traces the life and work of educator Marcus Foster, who became the first black superintendent of a large school district in the United States in 1970. "In the Crossfire: Marcus Foster and the Troubled History of American School Reform" is available now from Universit...

A Professor of Military Theory and Strategy at the US Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, Kevin Weddle, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Weddle's new book, The Compleat Victory: Saratoga and the American Revolution, and how the battle of Saratoga parallels Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

A professor in the College of Business at Western Carolina University, Angela Dills, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss a report co-written by Dills, which works to dispel common myths about charter schools and their funding, spending and management. The report, “Charter School Funding: Dispelling Myths about EMOs, Expenditure Patterns, & Nonpublic Dollars,” is available now. https://cpb-us-e1.wpmu...

A Senior Fellow with the Pioneer Institute, Cara Candal, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss the state of Boston Public Schools, including the resignation of Superintendent Brenda Cassellius and more than a decade of declining test scores.

The chief academic officer of elementary humanities at Amplify, Susan Lambert, and a research director at Amplify, Paul Gazzerro, join Paul E. Peterson to discuss Amplify's research brief, which looks at students in grades K-2, and how they are at greater risk for not learning to read due to the pandemic school shutdowns.

A longtime reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Maureen Downey, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss the efforts of Atlanta neighborhood Buckhead to break away and form its own city, how it failed and what it could have meant for Atlanta Public Schools and its students.

Joanne Jacobs, an education reporter and former San Jose Mercury News editorial writer and columnist, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss the recent recall of three members of the San Francisco Unified School Board. Jacobs wrote about the effort to recall the board members for Education Next, in "Behind a School Board Recall in San Francisco, a Diverse Coalition." https://www.educationnext.org/behin...

An assistant professor at Tulane University, Ilana Horwitz, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Horwitz's new book, God, Grades, and Graduation: Religion's Surprising Impact on Academic Success.

The founder of Common Good and author of "Try Common Sense: Replacing the Failed Ideologies of Right and Left," Philip K. Howard, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Howard's latest report, "Accountability on Trial," which contends that accountability is being undercut by public union contracts.

The Director of Education Policy at the Goldwater Institute, Matt Beienburg, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss how Arizona's allocations of money to education savings accounts could result in a pullback of federal coronavirus relief funds in the state.

A resident fellow at the Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization, Mary Grabar, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Grabar's new book, "Debunking The 1619 Project: Exposing the Plan to Divide America."

A professor of political science at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Joshua Dunn, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss the oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in the Carson v. Makin case, and what could be in store for religious education and state Blaine amendments. Read Dunn's blog post, "Supreme Court Oral Argument in Carson v. Makin Sends Hopeful Signal for Religious School A...

An an economics professor at Brown University, Emily Oster, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Oster's latest research, which finds that pass rates on standardized tests declined in district schools during the Covid-19 pandemic, and that those rates were lower in schools with less in-person instruction. Oster's paper, "Pandemic Schooling Mode and Student Test Scores: Evidence from US States," co-wr...

The Will Skillman Fellow in Education at The Heritage Foundation, Jonathan Butcher, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss the growing controversy over critical race theory and its place in the classroom. Butcher's report, "Critical Race Theory, the New Intolerance, and Its Grip on America," co-written with Mike Gonzalez, is available now. https://www.heritage.org/civil-rights/report/critical-race-theo...

The Superintendent of the Dallas Independent School District, Michael Hinojosa, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss how Dallas handles school safety, the recent lifting of the mask mandate in schools, and how the district has rewarded their best-performing teachers while limiting turnover.

A senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, Naomi Schaefer Riley, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Schaefer Riley's new book, "No Way to Treat a Child: How the Foster Care System, Family Courts, and Racial Activists Are Wrecking Young Lives."

The director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, Rick Hess, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss the critical race theory debate, and how the media has covered the subject. "Misleading Media Coverage Has Made Critical Race Theory Debate Angrier and Less Honest," a report by Hess, is available now. https://www.aei.org/research-products/report/medias-misleading-portrayal-o...

The president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, Nina Rees, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss a recent report by the National Alliance which shows an increase in enrollment in charter schools across the country in the 2020-21 academic year. The report, "Voting with Their Feet: A State-level Analysis of Public Charter School and District Public School Enrollment Trends," i...

The president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Mike Petrilli, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss the results of the 2021 Virginia Governor race, and what the election of Glenn Youngkin could signal for school choice moving forward.

A junior economist and doctoral student at the Ifo Center for the Economics of Education, Benjamin Arold, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Arold's research, which looks at the impact of the Common Core on subjects outside of math and reading. The paper, "The Unintended Effects of the Common Core State Standards on Non-Targeted Subjects," by Arold and M. Danish Shakeel, is available here: https://...

Investor and Chairman of the Board for the American Federation for Children, Bill Oberndorf, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss how progress in the school choice movement has been made in the states, with private school choice programs in 32 states, and charter programs in 48. Oberndorf was recently awarded the 2021 Simon-DeVos Prize for Philanthropic Leadership by Philanthropy Roundtable.

A senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, columnist for the Wall Street Journal, and author of Maverick: A Biography of Thomas Sowell, Jason Riley, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss some of Riley's reservations with adoption of critical race theory into school curriculum.

The Superintendent of Detroit Public Schools Community District, Dr. Nikolai Vitti, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss how he has helped Detroit schools rebound from financial strains to its current renaissance.

The Managing Attorney at the Liberty Justice Center, Daniel Suhr, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss the Bishop of Charleston v. Adams case, which challenges South Carolina state officials from using the Blaine Amendment to block Covid-19 funds from going to non-public schools and historically black colleges and universities.