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Podcast

#959: Are GPAs the key to measuring school quality? with Jing Liu and Seth Gershenson

Jing Liu, Ph.D. Seth Gershenson, Ph.D. Michael J. Petrilli Amber M. Northern, Ph.D. David Griffith, Ph.D.
3.5.2025
 

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Jing Liu (University of Maryland) and Seth Gershenson (American University), authors of our latest report, Ready or Not? A New Way to Measure Elementary and Middle School Quality, join Mike and David to explore how tracking students’ future GPAs could offer a clearer measure of school quality. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber reviews a new study on young children’s evolving media consumption habits and their effects.

Recommended content:

  • Jing Liu, Ph.D. Seth Gershenson, Ph.D. and Max Anthenelli, Ready or Not? A New Way to Measure Elementary and Middle School Quality, Thomas B. Fordham Institute (February 20, 2025).
  • David Griffith and Amber Northern, “Make room, test scores: Introducing “indicators of high school and middle school readiness,” Thomas B. Fordham Institute (February 20, 2025).
  • Supreet Mann, Angela Calvin, Amanda Lenhart, and  Michael Robb, The 2025 Common Sense Census: Media Use by Kids Zero to Eight, Common Sense Media (2025)

Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our podcast? Send them to Stephanie Distler at sd[email protected].

Policy Priority:
Standards & Accountability
Topics:
Accountability & Testing

Jing Liu is an Assistant Professor in Education Policy and the Director of the Center for Educational Data Science and Innovation at the University of Maryland College Park. He is also a Research Fellow to the IZA Institute of Labor Economics. Named as a National Academy of Education Sciences/Spencer Dissertation Fellow, he earned his Ph.D. in Economics of Education from Stanford University in 2018. Before he joined UMD,…

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Seth Gershenson is associate professor of public affairs at American University, research fellow at the Institute of Labor Economics, and technical advisor to the Institute for Education Policy at Johns Hopkins. Professor Gershenson works broadly in the economics of education, with specific interests in teacher labor markets, summer learning loss,…

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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…

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

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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, …

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