Episode Details

Ashley Jochim, principal at the Center on Reinventing Public Education and mom of four, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith on the Education Gadfly Show to continue our debate on private school choice and regulation. She also discusses how Democrats’ defense of public schools often clashes with families’ real experiences, and why clear, consumer-facing information is essential to making choice work. 

On the Research Minute, Adam Tyner highlights a new NBER study from Chicago showing that giving principals more autonomy can boost student achievement— though effects vary widely depending on leadership capacity.

Recommended content 

• Unfettered Choice Has Not Delivered on Promises to Milwaukee Families —Ashley Jochim, Education Next
• Innovation, regulation, and school choice, with Mike McShane | Episode 984 of The Education Gadfly Show 
• Overregulated charter schools: Fact or fiction? —Michael J. Petrilli
• The mixed blessing of new school measures—Chester E. Finn, Jr.
• When decentralization works: Leadership, local Needs, and student achievement—C. Kirabo Jackson, NBER (2025)

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