Michael Petrilli

Overall, Amber Northern's report seems to underscore the important role of #IES in providing the baseline data and research infrastructure that supports so much of what we know about improvement in #education #eddata ies.ed.gov/learn/blog/r...

U.S. Department of Education Receives Recommendations to Reform the Institute of Education Sciences Today, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon received a report from U.S. Department of Education Senior Advisor Dr. Amber Northern with suggestions on how to reform the Institute for Education Sci...

The Department of Education has released recommendations to reform the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), which is the research and statistics arm of the Department.

Worth a read - many potentially promising ideas in here, worth serious discussion.

FYI @bencasselman.bsky.social @kevincarey1.bsky.social @mattbarnum.bsky.social @peterbergman.bsky.social @carajackson.bsky.social @cohodes.bsky.social @joshua-goodman.com @jenjennings.bsky.social @imbernomics.bsky.social @matthewakraft.com @chingos.bsky.social @mpolikoff.bsky.social

U.S. Department of Education Receives Recommendations to Reform the Institute of Education Sciences Today, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon received a report from U.S. Department of Education Senior Advisor Dr. Amber Northern with suggestions on how to reform the Institute for Education Sci...

Congratulations to my Fordham Institute colleague Amber Northern on the publication of her FANTASTIC report to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, Reimagining the Institute of Education Sciences. Read it now! www.ed.gov/about/news/p...

FYI @learningheroes.bsky.social @larryferlazzo.bsky.social @mattbarnum.bsky.social @carajackson.bsky.social @danagoldstein.bsky.social @joshua-goodman.com @alexanderrusso.bsky.social @joshcowenmi.bsky.social @matthewakraft.com @mpolikoff.bsky.social @jenjennings.bsky.social

Fixing grade inflation via clear policies and cultural change SCHOOLED | Friday, 2/27/26

Over at SCHOOLED, our discussion about grade inflation continues, with great suggestions on how to tamp it down from Bibb Hubbard, Mike Goldstein, Dale Chu, Thibaut Delloue, @davidbnitkin.bsky.social, and Kevin Teasley, among others. Check it out! schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com/p/fixing-gra...

Every State Should Challenge Plyler v. Doe: Time to End Free Education for Illegal Alien K–12 Students In 2025, six states introduced legislation or a rule concerning illegal alien K–12 students in public schools. The measures range from collecting immigration status and reporting the data to state off...

Makes me sick to my stomach. Ronald Reagan weeps.

Heritage Foundation Targets Undocumented Students’ Access to Free Education

(Paper here: www.heritage.org/border-secur...)

www.edweek.org/leadership/p...

Anyone? @kevincarey1.bsky.social @mattbarnum.bsky.social @peterbergman.bsky.social @carajackson.bsky.social @larryferlazzo.bsky.social @joshua-goodman.com @imbernomics.bsky.social @matthewakraft.com @chingos.bsky.social @mpolikoff.bsky.social @jenjennings.bsky.social

Can states do anything about grade inflation? SCHOOLED | Friday, 2/20/26

Can states do anything about grade inflation?

I've got a few ideas, but none of them are slam dunks. Do you have thoughts? schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com/p/can-states...

Cover of book by Nick Gibb and Robert Peal, Reforming Lessons: Why English Schools Have Improved Since 2010 and How This Was Achieved

TODAY'S MUST READ

What American Education Reformers Can Learn from England, via Helen Baxendale & @educationnext.bsky.social www.educationnext.org/what-america...

Did the end of affirmative action lead to fewer Black and Hispanic students? Most people believed the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision to end affirmative action would cause a big drop in Black and Hispanic enrollment at the nation’s top colleges. What actually happened is more co...

The end of affirmative action helped mostly white women, not white men:

"Among 71 private, highly selective colleges, only 72 more white male students enrolled in 2024 than in the previous fall. (White women increased by 479 students at those colleges.)"

hechingerreport.org/after-affirm...

Did the state get the money back?

Thanks Adam

ICE and ed reform In private conversations, and at policy conferences, education reformers are increasingly asking whether we should join the resistance against ICE. Some of you will surely think that this question is ...

I don’t represent an education reform organization, but I would sign this letter penned by @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social fordhaminstitute.org/national/com...

SCHOOLED | Michael J. Petrilli | Substack SCHOOLED is Michael J. Petrilli’s twice-weekly newsletter restarting the ed reform conversation. Expect sharp analysis, curated commentary, and lively debates—including from YOU. This is one newslette...

FYI schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com @kevincarey1.bsky.social @mattbarnum.bsky.social @carajackson.bsky.social @larryferlazzo.bsky.social @joshua-goodman.com @imbernomics.bsky.social @joshcowenmi.bsky.social @matthewakraft.com @chingos.bsky.social @matthewakraft.com @mpolikoff.bsky.social

A way forward on ICE for ed reformers, with perspectives from @deniseforte.bsky.social @conorpwilliams.bsky.social @karenvaites.bsky.social & @radiokeri.bsky.social.

A narrow focus on reinstating schools as safe zones can attract broad support. Demanding everyone join the ICE #resistance will not.

The Effects of Immigration Enforcement on Student Outcomes in a New Era of Immigration Policy in the United States Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...

At minimum I'd like to see reformers acknowledge that ICE is compromising schools' ability to operate in accordance with Plyler v. Doe. It would also be great to see attention to the evidence on this issue www.nber.org/papers/w34452

Right, that's what I meant. Toward the end of his term (in 2024 I believe) he was able to stop the huge flow of migrants across the border by changing the asylum rules--without legislation. (After Trump killed the bipartisan immigration bill, of course.)

I'm with you except for the asylum part. The Biden folks figured out how to change that without legislation, too. Clearly it was abused.

Opinion | State Terror Has Arrived

Anyone who believes in the rule of law should oppose stopping people based on their assumed race/ethnicity, attempting to change established asylum law by force rather than through legislation, targeting children, and creating an environment of state terror.

Thoughts? @kevincarey1.bsky.social @mattbarnum.bsky.social @mpolikoff.bsky.social @carajackson.bsky.social @joshua-goodman.com @bethhawkins.bsky.social @imbernomics.bsky.social @matthewakraft.com @chingos.bsky.social @jenjennings.bsky.social @conorpwilliams.bsky.social

Should education reformers join the resistance against ICE? SCHOOLED | Friday, 2/6/26

Should education reformers join the resistance against ICE? schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com/p/should-edu...

With all due respect, Josh, former Education Secretary Rod Paige, who died in December, used to say that, and he had every right to do so, having grown up in segregated Mississippi and having participated in key Civil Rights moments himself. And lot of people mean it sincerely.

I'm with the teachers unions on this one, which is not something I say often. Schools are for learning, not immigration enforcement.

Minnesota teachers sue to keep ICE off school property Two school districts and a teachers union allege that the immigration crackdown has spilled onto campuses and interrupted the functioning of schools across the state.

Minnesota teachers sue to keep ICE off school property

Two school districts and a teachers union allege that the immigration crackdown has spilled onto campuses and interrupted the functioning of schools across the state. www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...

This piece from Mike Petrilli on the rhetoric and tone shift of private school choice supporters is a good critical read and opportunity for reflection. From the Catholic education perspective, there are two principles that seem to have fallen to the wayside in Catholic advocacy for private school choice—the preferential option for the poor and a provision in the Code of Canon Law around academic quality. The “rescue mission” framing Mike references should resonate with Catholic advocates specifically. Pope Leo states in his most recent apostolic letter that “losing the poor is equivalent to losing the school itself.” More expansive approaches to parental choice that de-prioritize serving populations most in need—poor and working-class families, students with disabilities, English language learners—in favor of universal access is hard to square with the Church’s teaching on the preferential option for the poor. More recent private school choice programs also lack the kind of guardrails for educational quality that the Church’s Code of Canon Law would suggest an embrace of. Canon 806 §2 specifically states that “the instruction which is given in [Catholic schools] is at least as academically distinguished as that in the other schools of the area.” Removing or advocating against academic accountability measures in private school choice programs makes it difficult to make reasonable claims in response to this canonical directive—and with the prevalence of assessments used by Catholic schools that provide criterion-referenced achievement and growth data (as well as projected proficiency measures that support more direct comparisons between schools across sectors), solely relying on market factors (e.g. shifts in enrollment) and a “trust me, bro” approach to academic quality shouldn’t pass the smell test.

All of this via Boston College's John Reyes via @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social: "More expansive approaches to parental choice that de-prioritize serving populations most in need...in favor of universal access is hard to square with the Church’s teaching on the preferential option for the poor."

Well, I do buy the argument that there was some negative selection in those states--that some of the best private schools decided not to participate. Though I think that was because of the "accept all comers" rule, not the "take the state test" rule. But it's hard to know for sure.

Thanks Jen! Though I think you meant to say "everyone should read every newsletter he publishes..." :)

This is a @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social appreciation post. Everyone should read his newsletter today, which dissects what's going on with private vs. charter choice w great clarity.