On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Kristen Huff, the vice president of assessment and research at Curriculum Associates, joins Mike and David to discuss the academic performance our youngest students in the wake of the pandemic. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber examines a new study investigating the demographic effects of test-optional policies at selective universities.

Recommended content:

• “The Youngest Pandemic Children Are Now in School, and Struggling” —New York Times
• Ethan Young and Kelsey Young, “Student growth in the post-COVID era,” Curriculum Associates (June 2024).
• “The Democratic replacement candidates on education” —Daniel Buck, Fordham Institute
• Adam Tyner, “Think Again: Do College Admissions Exams Drive Higher Education Inequities?” Fordham Institute (February 2023).
• Kelly Rosinger, Dominique J. Baker, Joseph Sturm, Wan Yu, Julie J. Park, OiYan Poon, Brian Heseung Kim, and Stephanie Breen, “Exploring the relationship between test-optional admissions and selectivity and enrollment outcomes during the pandemic,” Annenberg Institute at Brown University (June 2024).

Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to Daniel Buck at dbuck@fordhaminstitute.org.

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Marguerite Roza, the director of the Edunomics Lab and a research professor at Georgetown University, joins Mike and David to discuss how schools and school systems can downsize in response to declining enrollment. Then, on the Research Minute, Adam examines a new study investigating the academic impacts of ESSER funding, the largest one-time federal investment in public schools in history.

Recommended content:

• “The math of school closures: How district leaders should navigate the perfect storm of budget shortfalls and declining student enrollment” —Marguerite Roza & Aashish Dhammani, The 74
• “Schools will have to start closing again” —Michael Petrilli, Wall Street Journal
• “Doing educational equity right: School closures” —Michael Petrilli, Fordham Institute
• Dan Goldhaber and Grace Falken, “ESSER and student achievement: Assessing the impacts of the largest one-time federal investment in K12 schools,” CALDER (June 2024).

Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to Daniel Buck at dbuck@fordhaminstitute.org.

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Alina Adams, a New York Times best-selling author, joins Mike and David to discuss the parenting lessons she learned from watching “Young Sheldon.” Then, on the Research Minute, Adam examines a new study investigating the rigor (or lack thereof) of online credit recovery courses.

Recommended content:

• “I watched the parenting on ‘Young Sheldon’… and did the exact opposite” —Alina Adams, Education Next
• “Fun fact: ‘Young Sheldon’ provides insight into parenting bright children” —Jonathan Plucker, Education Next
• “Time to press ‘pause’ on credit recovery” —Adam Tyner, Fordham Institute
• Jennifer Darling-Aduana, Carolyn J. Heinrich, Jeremy Noonan, Jialing Wu, and Kathryn Enriquez, “Failing to learn from failure: The facade of online credit recovery assessments,” Education Finance and Policy (March 2024).

Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to Daniel Buck at dbuck@fordhaminstitute.org.