The Future of Federal Education Policy with Christy Wolfe
Susan Pendergrass speaks with Christy Wolfe, director of K–12 policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, about major shifts in federal...
The One Big Education Opportunity with Shaka Mitchell
Susan Pendergrass speaks with Shaka Mitchell, senior fellow at the American Federation for Children, about how a new federal scholarship...
A Freeze in July?
As a former tutor at a Tennessee Boys & Girls Club, a recent headline caught my eye: the Boys &...
Understanding the One Big Beautiful Bill with Elias Tsapelas
Susan Pendergrass is joined by Elias Tsapelas, director of state budget and fiscal policy at the Show-Me Institute, to break...
Children Have a Right to a Safe Place to Learn
The U.S. Department of Education recently reminded states that under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), students must be given...
Don’t Throw the Baby Out with the Bathwater
As part of the dramatic cuts at the U.S. Department of Education under the Trump administration’s DOGE program, the entire...
Former Secretary of Education: “Shut Down the Department of Education”
Show-Me Institute analysts typically focus on Missouri education issues. Yet, with the present debates about dismantling the federal Department of...
Patriotic Education or Federal Overreach? With Chester (Checker) Finn
Susan Pendergrass speaks with Chester (Checker) Finn, Distinguished Senior Fellow and President Emeritus at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, about...
Missouri Public Schools Have a Very Serious Reading Problem
Test scores on the Nation’s Report Card were released on January 29th, and Missouri faces a dire future if we...
The Future of the Department of Education with Ginny Gentles
Susan Pendergrass speaks with Virginia (Ginny) Gentles, director of the Education Freedom and Parental Rights Initiative at the Defense of...
Make Missouri Education Great
President-Elect Trump has repeatedly stated his desire to close the U.S. Department of Education and return education back to the...
Missouri Public Education in Four Graphs
I had a professor in college who was very good at getting his points across by waving his hands in...
Maybe the Adults Need a Math Test
The media is finally catching on to a trend I’ve discussed often here. The number of elementary and secondary students...
How We’re Writing Off an Entire Generation with Michael Petrilli
Susan Pendergrass speaks with Michael J. Petrilli about his recent op-ed featured in The New York Times, titled ‘We Can...
Expanding the VIP List for Charter School Eligibility
In Missouri, only a select few are eligible for the VIP status of charter school eligibility. The “bouncer” until recently...
How We Fund Schools with Chad Aldeman
Susan Pendergrass speaks with Chad Aldeman about school funding, teacher pay, pension systems and more. Chad Aldeman is the Policy...
Fright Night in Missouri Comes Early
Reviewing the recent release of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is an ideal way to get into the...
Houston, We Have a Problem
The 2022 scores on the Nation’s Report Card (or NAEP), a test administered every other year by the U.S. Department...
The Missouri School Rankings Project
UPDATE as of March 12, 2025, MoSchoolRankings.org now has the latest 2023–2024 performance data for every Missouri school and district—plus...
The Devil Is Certainly in the Details
The American Rescue Plan (ARP) contains the latest federal stimulus package for public education, of which Missouri is set to...
