A big win for the ed reform organization (and DFER splinter group) Center for Strong Public Schools, which endorsed her.

Unless I am misunderstanding the situation I don't really see why a D governor would turn this down. If you do, it's just giving away money to red states as opposed to keeping it in-state.

Trump’s education tax credit is poorly designed, but blue states should opt into it anyway fordhaminstitute.org/national/com...

My hot takes 1) Declining interest in the teaching profession is an important & under-recognized driver of test declines. 2) Condemning "screens" as universally bad is foolish. Online tutoring, computer adaptive learning can offer great differentiated instruction. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/13/u...

Lots of things are going on in Education in Arkansas. Check out this great episode 👇 and stay tuned for all the research we have underway evaluating these efforts...

Can Arkansas make teaching great again? | Episode 1017 of The Education Gadfly Show, featuring Arkansas Education Secretary Jacob Oliva fordhaminstitute.org/national/res...

Strictly as a feat of data journalism partnering with world-class research this tool is wildly impressive www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

I don't love the design of the federal Education Freedom Tax Credit, but I am glad to see blue states opting into it nonetheless. schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com/p/new-york-p... @jenjennings.bsky.social @mpolikoff.bsky.social @joshcowenmi.bsky.social

In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, let's embrace cell phone bans to make teaching more satisfying, pay our best teachers more, and put research front and center. The Latest in Literacy is out: www.karenvaites.org/p/the-latest...

The Science, and Culture, of Reading Instruction // www.chadaldeman.com/p/the-scienc...

Well-said. I also appreciated @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social's straight talk: What if states get prescriptive about curriculum... and get it wrong? "If states are going to push, prod, or outright command districts to adopt certain curricula, hire certain vendors, [etc.], they’d better be right."

What if states get prescriptive about curriculum... and get it wrong? Thank you @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social for asking this elephant-in-the-room Q. Read it all: schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com/p/pondiscio-...

Today in horseshoe politics: The right/libertarian universal school choice group EdChoice buddies up with teachers to bemoan standardized tests. the74million.org/article/teac... @the74.bsky.social

Everyone's talking about the new Fordham report. Including me. My latest: @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social www.karenvaites.org/p/the-new-fo...

TODAY'S MUST READ via @mpolikoff.bsky.social New research finds promising signs on Science of Reading implementation, and important lessons for California edpolicyhub.substack.com/p/new-resear...

Phones and social media have caused all sorts of harms to young people here and around the world, but driving down the teenage pregnancy rate is an unmitigated positive. homepages.uc.edu/~moscoshn/Pe...

How the Science of Reading Is Reshaping Teaching: What the Data Say Some teachers are still lukewarm on phonics instruction, a new survey finds www.edweek.org/teaching-lea... @edweek.org

I, too, enjoy reading @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social and did not know about his newsletter!

I have really been enjoying Mike's newsletter, which brings together a range of perspectives each week and consistently points me to good pieces I have not read.

State takeovers are back First Houston, now Memphis. Can we call this a trend? And is it worth celebrating? Plus, our trillion-dollar K–12 system. Today in SCHOOLED. schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com/p/state-take...

If schools hired better, provided better feedback to teachers, were more serious about performance influencing tenure (Mike did mention this), and connected evaluations to improvements in teacher prep, the system would (hopefully) be a lot better! 3/3

1) Significant variation in the quality of teachers. 2) A lack of documentation (performance evals) of the differences in the quality of teachers. I emphasize the above b/c I think they are so connected to school improvement. 2/n

It's solo @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social on what evidence-based elementary schools would look like. I agree w/ Mike that roughly 80% of elementary schools share common elements, but I'd emphasize a two elements he did not talk (much) about 👇 1/n fordhaminstitute.org/national/res...

Do you know who has been evaluating schools with more than just test scores for thirty-five years--in line with what @thomastoch.bsky.social has been calling for? Charter school authorizers! That and more in today's SCHOOLED. schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com/p/bothand-on...

it's funny that circa Race to the Top, the narrative was that nothing in education has worked—and that's why we need these reforms. It was Ravitch et al saying well scores have been going up. But now the narrative is that actually everything pre-RTTT ed reform did work after all!

In recent weeks, @charliebarone.bsky.social and @thomastoch.bsky.social have each written long-reads on where the Democrats should go on education. Today we bring their debate to SCHOOLED. Weigh in! schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com/p/toch-v-bar...

@benjaminjriley.bsky.social Ugh, Ben, I'm so sorry for what you've been going through, and am sorry for your loss. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/13/w...

It's not quite as bad as Trump talking about the Iran War next to the Easter Bunny but still, I count this as a fail for Secretary McMahon's advance team.

Sarah is not afraid to speak the truth about the blue states, who tend to spend more (lots more) than Mississippi and are getting much worse results thanks to the power of the teachers unions and unwillingness to embrace accountability.

WEEKEND LISTEN: Sarah Mervosh on The Daily on Mississippi's reading reforms www.nytimes.com/2026/04/10/p...

I want the country to experience an educational transformation as big as Mississippi’s has been. It starts with an understanding of what drove Mississippi’s success. Thanks, @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social, for this boost of my piece in the Atlantic about my new report.

TODAY'S MUST READ, via @rachelanncanter.bsky.social @progressivepolicy.org States Are Learning the Wrong Lesson from the ‘Mississippi Miracle’ www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

in education, I sometimes think class-size reduction is the perfect example of this phenomenon (think tanks v. regular people). You can't find anyone in the D.C. think tank world who is for big cuts in class size, but regular parents and teachers love this idea.

Think Tanks Have Defeated Democracy "The archetypical nonprofit is now no longer a church or soup kitchen but rather a vague educational organization." This is brutal! (Says the education policy think tank president) www.palladiummag.com/2026/04/02/t...

If you told me Andrew Tate invented this policy to kneecap women, I would believe you. Among the Worst Ideas Ever And the competition is fierce

On education reform, Andy Beshear appears to be a Joe Biden Democrat. That's not good!

"National commentators often miss something important: There are more reform-minded Democrats than they realize...D.C.—bluer than any state—has built one of the country’s most ambitious and under-recognized reform ecosystems...w/real gains to show for it." www.educationnext.org/how-democrat...

How to Teach What It Means to Be American (Opinion): As America turns 250, Richard Kahlenberg discusses how schools can cultivate a common identity.

This is why we need automatic enrollment!

In Ohio, "high-achieving low-income and minority students are more likely than their peers to miss out on advanced math. Less than 50% of Black, Hispanic, and AI/AN students who scored in the top two levels took algebra in eighth grade, while 56% of their White peers did so."

Hey Bluesky peeps (is that the right term?), anyone wanna defend neighborhood public schools and school boundaries? schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com/p/eliminate-...

Terrific Kevin Mahnken piece on our new paper on which teacher applicants are making it through the hiring pipeline. We were surprised by the demographic differences, especially for Asian applicants. Here's the paper: caldercenter.org/publications... www.the74million.org/article/scho...

My oldest son--a high school senior--found it funny that this is "news." "More middle and high schoolers are leaning on AI for homework" www.k12dive.com/news/more-mi...

According to Claude, there are 84 schools named after Cesar Chavez in the U.S.

Obvious self-interest in promoting my own research aside, The Education Gadfly and @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social's Substack are great spaces for discussion about education policy that I strongly recommend, especially for grad students trying to understand some of these issues. ⬇️⬇️⬇️

The White House promises to limit "civil immigration enforcement activities" at sensitive locations, including schools. Does this go far enough? Or does DHS need to promise not to nab people near schools, bus stops, etc. too? www.politico.com/live-updates...

In defense of teacher diversity, with contributions from @drconstance.bsky.social @mpolikoff.bsky.social @conorlambpa.bsky.social and many more schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com/p/in-defense...

ADE is once again, intentionally or unwittingly, misrepresenting ESA, but the unallowable rate is a distraction. - excursions in 50 states & DC & in 17 countries: allowable. -7.2M in Lego: allowable. -Huge expenditures on sports: allowable. The real problem is what's allowed. 9

🧵 Arizona Ed said it analyzed a random sample of 3K ESA transactions & concluded 1.9% of ESA $ unallowable. TLDR: 🫠They did not draw a random sample 🫠Either ADE lied or made a very basic error 🫠Focusing on unallowed misses big picture; too many low-ROI for human capital items are allowed 1/10