Two decades ago, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute’s Ohio Gadfly newsletter was born—on November 2, 2005 to be exact. Younger sibling of the nationally focused Education Gadfly Weekly, the upstart promised to give Ohio readers the biweekly buzz on “news, analysis, and insight into the education reform effort” in the Buckeye State. That first edition—written, edited, and produced in Fordham’s hometown of Dayton—promised to “play an important role in informing the dialogue and inspiring the debate around pressing issues facing K–12 education” across the state. The Ohio Gadfly has continued that mission uninterrupted ever since.
While we may have lost the old baby pictures over the years (no great loss—likely just a standard, text-heavy email template), we do still have all of Ohio Gadfly’s first words. You can read the full text of Volume 1, Number 1 here.
A couple of observations looking back over twenty years:
The first is how much hasn’t changed with the Gadfly in all that time. Our inaugural edition led off with an editorial piece based on brand new findings from a survey, commissioned by Fordham, of more than 1,000 randomly-selected Ohioans. We’re still partnering on similar types of surveys today to identify what parents and other stakeholders know and care about across a range of education issues.
What were the issues at the top of folks’ minds back in 2005? Spending education funds efficiently, stopping social promotion of underprepared students, providing merit pay for the best teachers, and establishing no-nonsense discipline policies to keep schools safe and class time productive. These topics are still important today. And even though many policy changes have been enacted in the intervening years, there is still more work to do—and Fordham Ohio is at the forefront.
The second observation, though, is that something important has changed…for the better. The Buckeye State’s charter school sector has come a very long way over the last twenty years. The first edition of Ohio Gadfly is full of news clips and comments reflecting the turbulent early days of charters, from mismanaged funds to academic dysfunction.
After years of prodding from Fordham and other quality-minded choice advocates, things began to change with the passage of House Bill 2 in 2015. Two years later, Fordham research showed that the sector was already on the road to redemption. By 2020, the number of charter authorizers had shrunk, dozens of low-performing schools had closed, and student achievement was on the upswing. Around that time, school choice champion Governor Mike DeWine began efforts to incentivize high-performing charters to expand and replicate through a new funding supplement.
Today, Ohio is far beyond those bad old days. School choice is healthy and growing, with more than 110,000 students attending a variety of charters across the state.
As for the Ohio Gadfly, it’s all grown up, too, relocated to the state capital but still bringing Ohioans all the buzz on important education policy issues. Our November 3, 2025 edition, for instance, included new research on Ohio’s graduation requirements, analysis of a promising model for teacher merit pay, and a review of research on postsecondary readiness tests, among other pieces.
We’ll keep writing and hope that you’ll keep reading!
Where are they now? Volume 1, Number 1 writers today.
Terry Ryan departed the Fordham Institute in 2013 to lead Bluum, a nonprofit organization helping Idaho become a national model for how to maximize learning outcomes for children and families. He remains CEO of Bluum today.
Checker Finn transitioned away from his duties as President of the Fordham Institute in 2014 but didn’t stray far. Today he is Distinguished Senior Fellow and President Emeritus of the organization, and remains one of our most prolific education gadflies.
Allison Porch became a freelance researcher and business consultant upon leaving Fordham in 2006, before earning her master of library science degree and joining the Carol Stream Public Library system in Illinois in 2015.
