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

#961: How “No Excuses” charter schools went off the rails, with Steven Wilson

Steven Wilson Michael J. Petrilli Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.
3.19.2025
 

On this week’s Education Gadfly Show podcast, Steven Wilson, senior fellow at the Pioneer Institute, joins Mike to discuss his new book The Lost Decade: Returning to the Fight for Better Schools in America, which argues that the push for so-called antiracist education derailed reform and harmed marginalized students. Then, on the Research Minute, Amber examines a study on how educators divide their attention during virtual tutoring—and how achievement, gender, race, and English learner status influence those interactions.

Recommended content: 

  • Steven Wilson, “The Lost Decade: Returning to the Fight for Better Schools in America,” Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research, 2024.
  • Wilson, Steven F. “The Promise of Intellectual Joy,” June 4, 2019. 
  • Robert Pondiscio, “After a “lost decade,” let’s restore high expectations for students,” Thomas B. Fordham Institute (December 12, 2024).
  • Michael J. Petrilli, “11 thoughts about the massive layoffs at the U.S. Department of Education,” Thomas B. Fordham Institute (March 11, 2025).
  • Frederick M. Hess, “Defunding the teacher trainers,” Thomas B. Fordham Institute (March 6, 2025).
  • Qingyang Zhang, Rose E. Wang, Ana T. Ribeiro, Dorottya Demszky, and Susanna Loe, Educator Attention: How computational tools can systematically identify the distribution of a key resource for students, Annenberg Institute (March 2025)

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

Policy Priority:
High Expectations

Steven Wilson is a senior fellow with the Center on Reinventing Public Education and founder of Ascend Learning, a network of tuition-free, liberal arts charter schools in New York City.

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

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

Related Resources

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
view Early literacy progress on report cards blog image
Standards & Accountability

State report cards offer good news and bad news in reading

Jessica Poiner 9.21.2026
OhioBlog
view Gadfly Bites logo
School Funding

Gadfly Bites 9/21/26—Honesty and integrity

Jeff Murray 9.21.2026
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]