#951: The future of federal education policy under Trump, with Alyson Klein

Alyson Klein Michael J. Petrilli Amber M. Northern, Ph.D. David Griffith, Ph.D.

1.8.2025

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Alyson Klein, assistant editor at Education Week, joins Mike and David to discuss how President Trump could weaken the U.S. Department of Education without dismantling it entirely. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber shares a study examining the impact of early math intervention on student outcomes in Kentucky.

Recommended content:

Alyson Klein, “How Trump Can Hobble the Education Department Without Abolishing It,” Education Week (December 12, 2024).
Chester E. Finn, Jr., “Will Trump eliminate the federal role in education or weaponize it?,” Thomas B. Fordham Institute (December 12, 2024).
Michael J. Petrilli, “How much blame does the federal government deserve for America’s mediocre schools?,” Thomas B. Fordham Institute (November 21, 2024).
Zeyu Xu, Umut Özek, Jesse Levin and Dong Hoon Lee, Effects of Large-Scale Early Math Interventions on Student Outcomes: Evidence From Kentucky’s Math Achievement Fund, SAGE Journals (2024)

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Policy Priority:

Standards & Accountability

Topics:

Alyson Klein

Alyson Klein is a veteran education writer who has covered K-12 schools for more than a dozen years. She covers the latest developments in educational technology, including topics such personalized learning, data privacy, digital curricula, cybersecurity, and teacher professional development.

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…

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

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, …