Skip to main content

Mobile Navigation

  • National
    • Policy
      • High Expectations
      • Quality Choices
      • Personalized Pathways
    • Research
    • Commentary
      • Gadfly Newsletter
      • Flypaper Blog
    • Events
    • Scholars Program
  • Ohio
    • Policy
      • Priorities
      • Media & Testimony
    • Research
    • Commentary
      • Ohio Education Gadfly Biweekly
      • Ohio Gadfly Daily
  • Charter Authorizing
    • Application
    • Sponsored Schools
    • Resources
  • About
    • Mission
    • Board
    • Staff
    • Career
Home
Home
Advancing Educational Excellence

Main Navigation

  • National
  • Ohio
  • Charter Authorizing
  • About

National Menu

  • Topics
    • Accountability & Testing
    • Advanced Education
    • Career & Technical Education
    • Charter Schools
    • Curriculum & Instruction
    • ESSA
    • Evidence-Based Learning
    • Facilities
    • Governance
    • Personalized Learning
    • Private School Choice
    • School Finance
    • Standards
    • Teachers & School Leaders
    • Think Again
  • Research
  • Commentary
    • Gadfly Newsletter
    • Flypaper Blog
    • Gadfly Podcast
  • Events
  • Scholars Program
Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify Watch on YouTube
Podcast

#855: How states are fighting credential inflation, with Rick Hess

Michael J. Petrilli Frederick M. Hess Amber M. Northern, Ph.D. David Griffith, Ph.D.
1.31.2023
 

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute tells Mike Petrilli and David Griffith why we should be happy that an increasing number of states are eliminating college degree requirements for many jobs. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber tells us about the effect of mandatory pass/fail grading on college student performance.

Recommended content:

  • “Penn.’s New Governor Strikes a Blow Against the College-Industrial Complex” —Forbes
  • “Busting the College-Industrial Complex” —National Affairs
  • “Utah governor wants to eliminate the ‘paper ceiling’ of degree requirements” —The Center Square
  • The study that Amber reviewed on the Research Minute: Kristin Butcher, Patrick McEwan, and Akila Weerapana, “Making the (Letter) Grade: The Incentive Effects of Mandatory Pass/Fail Courses,” National Bureau of Economic Research (December 2022)

Feedback Welcome:

Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to our producer Nathaniel Grossman at [email protected].

Policy Priority:
Personalized Pathways
Topics:
Governance

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…

View Full Bio

Frederick M. Hess is director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute and author of The Great School Rethink (Harvard Education Press 2023).

Amber Northern is senior vice president for research at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, where she supervises the Institute’s robust research portfolio and…

View Full Bio

David Griffith is the National Research Director at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, where he manages or authors reports on various subjects including charter schools, …

View Full Bio

Related Resources

view Slow road sign
High Expectations

How states can slow the staffing surge

Aaron Garth Smith 9.22.2026
NationalBlog
view Ohio academic recovery blog image
Standards & Accountability

Will Ohio ever make a full academic recovery?

Aaron Churchill 9.22.2026
OhioBlog
view Charter renewal term length report SR image
School Choice

Examining charter school contract renewal length decisions by authorizers

Jeff Murray 9.22.2026
OhioBlog
Fordham Logo

© 2026 The Thomas B. Fordham Institute
Privacy Policy
Usage Agreement

National

P.O. Box 110
Burke, VA 22009

202.223.5452

[email protected]

Ohio

P.O. Box 82291
Columbus, OH 43202

614.223.1580

[email protected]

Sponsorship

130 West Second Street, Suite 410
Dayton, Ohio 45402

937.227.3368

[email protected]