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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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US Capitol Building
Quality Choices

Trump’s education tax credit has a quality control problem. Is there a private sector solution?

Michael J. Petrilli 11.13.2025
NationalFlypaper
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Leaky pipe
High Expectations

The leaky kindergarten-to-college pipeline for high-achieving, low-income students

Aaron Churchill, Michael J. Petrilli 11.6.2025
NationalFlypaper
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Student in a classroom
High Expectations

How can we depolarize “gifted education”?

Michael J. Petrilli 10.17.2025
NationalFlypaper
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College graduates
High Expectations

The remarkable educational attainment gains of the reform era

Michael J. Petrilli 10.16.2025
NationalFlypaper
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Microphone
High Expectations

School board members are wearing rose-colored glasses

Michael J. Petrilli, Adam Tyner, Ph.D. 10.9.2025
NationalFlypaper
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Donald Trump
Quality Choices

How to persuade Democratic governors to opt into Trump’s education tax credit

Michael J. Petrilli 9.30.2025
NationalFlypaper

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