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Advancing Educational Excellence

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Michael J. Petrilli

National
President, Thomas B. Fordham Institute

President, Thomas B. Fordham Institute

Michael J. Petrilli is president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, executive editor of Education Next, editor in chief of the Education Gadfly Weekly, host of the Education Gadfly Show podcast, author of the SCHOOLED Substack, and a contributor at Forbes.com. An award-winning writer, he is the author of The Diverse Schools Dilemma, editor of Education for Upward Mobility, and co-editor of How to Educate an American and Follow the Science to School. An expert on charter schools, school accountability, evidence-based practices, and trends in test scores and other student outcomes, Petrilli has published opinion pieces in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and The Atlantic, and appears frequently on television and radio. Petrilli helped to create the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Innovation and Improvement and the Policy Innovators in Education Network, and serves on the board of the Association of American Educators Foundation. He lives with his family in Bethesda, Maryland.

For media inquiries, please email Victoria McDougald. For all other meetings, please contact Jeff Murray.

Authored Commentary & Research

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A grade in school
High Expectations

Can states do anything about grade inflation?

Michael J. Petrilli 2.26.2026
NationalFlypaper
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Playground with snow
High Expectations

ICE and ed reform

Michael J. Petrilli 2.12.2026
NationalFlypaper
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Football goalposts
Quality Choices

School choice supporters keep moving the goal posts

Michael J. Petrilli 2.5.2026
NationalFlypaper
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2025
High Expectations

Why 2025 was a good year for education reform

Michael J. Petrilli 12.18.2025
NationalFlypaper
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Sad student in a classroom
High Expectations

We’re losing too many high-achieving low-income students

Michael J. Petrilli 12.4.2025
NationalFlypaper
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Bored student
High Expectations

A “zero-based budgeting” approach for course requirements in the age of AI

Michael J. Petrilli 11.20.2025
NationalFlypaper

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