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Robert Pondiscio

National
Senior Visiting Fellow

Robert Pondiscio is a senior visiting fellow at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI)

He writes and speaks extensively on education and education-reform issues, with an emphasis on literacy, curriculum, civic education, and classroom practice. His 2019 book, How the Other Half Learns, based on a year of observations at New York City’s Success Academy network of charter schools, was praised as “morally disturbing” and “unsparingly honest” by the New York Times. After twenty years in journalism, including senior positions at TIME and Business Week, Robert became a fifth-grade teacher at a struggling South Bronx public school in 2002. He subsequently served as vice president for the Core Knowledge Foundation, taught civics at Democracy Prep Public Schools, a network of high-performing charter schools based in Harlem, New York, and was a Senior Fellow and Vice President for External Affairs here at Fordham. 

Robert’s articles and op-ed columns on education have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, the New York Daily News, Education Next, and dozens of other publications. A frequent speaker and expert guest on education issues, he has appeared on the Fox News Channel, CNN, and elsewhere.

Authored Commentary & Research

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Nikole Hannah-Jones
High Expectations

The lessons we’re not learning from Nikole Hannah-Jones

Robert Pondiscio 10.1.2026
NationalFlypaper
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Teacher and students reading
High Expectations

The reading crisis is changing the conversation

Robert Pondiscio 8.6.2026
NationalFlypaper
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American and Texas flags
High Expectations

Texas has a theory of education

Robert Pondiscio 7.9.2026
NationalFlypaper
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Child holding an American flag

How to raise a grateful American

Robert Pondiscio 7.2.2026
NationalFlypaper
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Scoreboard
High Expectations

On NCLB, Wiener and Petrilli fight to a draw

Robert Pondiscio 6.25.2026
NationalFlypaper
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Student reading

The “science of learning” is less controversial than it used to be

Robert Pondiscio 6.18.2026
NationalFlypaper

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