Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 8/6/25—Fix what you broke
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Topics
Commentary
Governance
“No strings cash” for high school students: results from a randomized control trial
Providing some form of “no strings attached” money to low-income individuals and monitoring the results is a longstanding research protocol aimed at finding a tipping point at which people’s lives measurably improve. Compared to what? Often it’s a comparison with others who are given lesser amounts in randomized control trials.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 8/4/25—How to prosper
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Commentary
Charter Schools
Ohio Charter News Weekly – 8.1.25
Stories featured in Ohio Charter News Weekly may require a paid subscription to read in full. The end of a long and bumpy road in Dayton
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 8/1/25—The end of a very bumpy road
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 7/30/25—The round file
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Checking in on Ohio’s early literacy reforms
Two years ago, Ohio enacted early literacy reforms aligned to the science of reading that impacted multiple aspects of teaching and learning. How are things going so far? New data from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce gives us some important clues.
Commentary
Governance
Can ambitious education reforms boost political fortunes?
Conventional wisdom holds that elected officials pay a political price when they champion bold education reforms. These efforts, after all, usually step on the toes of powerful interest groups—most notably, teachers’ unions, which can organize opposition and punish reformers at the ballot box.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 7/28/25—Dispatches from dystopia
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Commentary
Charter Schools
Ohio Charter News Weekly – 7.25.25
Stories featured in Ohio Charter News Weekly may require a paid subscription to read in full. Yay robotics!
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 7/25/25—I’m only hearing adult voices
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Commentary
Private School Choice
Gadfly Bites 7/23/25—“EdChoice is the law of the land for the coming school year”
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Teachers & School Leaders
What Ohio can learn from Dallas and D.C. about teacher performance pay
If policymakers are interested in implementing a merit pay plan for teachers in Ohio, they would do well to check out the data on similar efforts in Dallas and Washington, D.C., before they begin.
Commentary
Career & Technical Education
Making the case for outcomes-based quality control for workforce credentials
Acquisition of workforce credentials—certificates or licenses that are earned over a short time period and which signal mastery of a specific career-relevant skill—has surged in recent years. For example, U.S.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 7/21/25—Trimble trouble
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Commentary
Private School Choice
Leftist judge tramples on parental rights, school choice in the Buckeye State
Last month, Franklin County Judge Jaiza Page issued her long-awaited decision on Ohio’s EdChoice Scholarship lawsuit.
Commentary
Charter Schools
Ohio Charter News Weekly – 7.18.25
Stories featured in Ohio Charter News Weekly may require a paid subscription to read in full. “Fanatical” work rarely results in good work
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 7/18/25—The cell signal is strong here
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Three ways state leaders can address Ohio’s math crisis
State budget season is over, but that doesn’t mean legislators can’t still take action to help boost Ohio’s languishing math achievement. Here are three areas that should be addressed when they return to Columbus.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 7/16/25—Free stuff
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
School Finance
Lawmakers should override two of Governor DeWine’s three property tax vetoes
Even though Governor DeWine has put his signature on the biennial state budget bill, the process still isn’t quite over.
Commentary
Private School Choice
Beyond the city and off the grid: School choice in Ohio’s high-poverty communities
Improving educational opportunities for inner-city kids was originally a bipartisan endeavor. Conservatives and urban Democrats both championed public charter schools and private-school vouchers—primarily for large, densely populated, and economically segregated urban areas.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 7/14/25—“An erosion”
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Commentary
Charter Schools
Ohio Charter News Weekly – 7.11.25
Stories featured in Ohio Charter News Weekly may require a paid subscription to read in full. Budget analysis
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 7/11/25—Fixer upper
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 7/9/25—Check your work
News stories featured in Gadfly Bites may require a paid subscription to read in full. Just sayin’.
Commentary
Career & Technical Education
Legislators missed opportunities to strengthen career-connected learning
Ohio’s new state budget impacts many areas of K-12 education, including career-connected learning? By our reckoning, their efforts resulted in one important win but also three missed opportunities.
Commentary
Private School Choice
Analyzing homeschooling demographics and families’ definitions of student success
Data show that the number of homeschooling families in America is growing, and is similar in size now to the private and cha
Commentary
Teachers & School Leaders
Six ways Ohio can bolster its teacher pipeline
New policies in state law should soon give leaders important data on the health of the teacher pipeline in Ohio. What to do with that data when it’s compiled? Here are six ideas to consider.
Commentary
Governance
Gadfly Bites 7/7/25—“Now that it’s done….”
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