Expertise: 

Michael J. Petrilli

Visiting Fellow
Biography: 

Mike Petrilli is an award-winning writer and president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, one of the country’s most influential education policy think tanks. He is the author of The Diverse Schools’ Dilemma: A Parent's Guide to Socioeconomically Mixed Public Schools and coeditor of Knowledge at the Core: Don Hirsch, Core Knowledge, and the Future of the Common Core. Petrilli is also a visiting fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and executive editor of Education Next. Petrilli has published opinion pieces in the New York Times, Washington Post Bloomberg View, Slate, and Wall Street Journal and has been a guest on NBC Nightly News,, ABC World News Tonight, CNN, and Fox, as well as several National Public Radio programs, including All Things Considered, On Point, and the Diane Rehm Show. Petrilli helped create the US Department of Education’s Office of Innovation and Improvement, the Policy Innovators in Education Network, and Young Education Professionals. He lives with his family in Bethesda, Maryland.

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Recent Commentary

Analysis and Commentary

Little Learners Need Better Curriculum

by Michael J. Petrillivia Education Next
Monday, December 16, 2013

Any gains provided by a massive new investment in preschool will quickly fade away if Mayor de Blasio doesn’t also tackle New York City’s mediocre elementary schools.

Analysis and Commentary

President Obama’s Inequality Speech, Revised

by Michael J. Petrillivia National Review Online
Thursday, December 12, 2013

What the president should have said, in his own words.

Analysis and Commentary

Little Learners Need Better Curriculum

by Michael J. Petrillivia Daily News (NY)
Thursday, December 12, 2013

Find breaking US news, local New York news coverage, sports, entertainment news, celebrity gossip, autos, videos and photos at nydailynews.com.

Analysis and Commentary

PISA and Occam’s Razor

by Michael J. Petrillivia Education Next
Tuesday, December 3, 2013

What’s a better hypothesis for the lackluster math performance of our fifteen-year-olds? Maybe we’re just not very good at teaching math, especially in high school.

Analysis and Commentary

Right-Sizing the Classroom

by Michael J. Petrillivia Education Next
Friday, November 22, 2013

Schools can boost achievement by giving the most effective teachers larger classes than the least effective teachers.

Analysis and Commentary

Petrilli Testimony on Common Core in Ohio

by Michael J. Petrillivia Education Next
Wednesday, November 20, 2013

This testimony was presented in Ohio by Mike Petrilli, executive vice president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, on November 20, 2013.

Education Image

Petrilli Testimony on Common Core in Ohio

featuring Michael J. Petrillivia The Ohio House Education Committee
Wednesday, November 20, 2013

The Ohio House Education Committee will consider testimony on House Bill 237, legislation that would repeal the Common Core, the state’s new and more rigorous learning standards for math and English language arts. 

Analysis and Commentary

Of Course We Want Instructional Change. Don’t You?

by Michael J. Petrillivia Education Next
Friday, November 15, 2013
Analysis and Commentary

What Obamacare, ‘Supplemental Services,’ and Teacher Evaluations Have in Common

by Michael J. Petrillivia Education Next
Thursday, October 24, 2013

It brings me no pleasure to predict that the project to create rigorous teacher evaluations by fiat is likely to fail.

Analysis and Commentary

Rain of Errors

by Michael J. Petrillivia Education Next
Thursday, October 17, 2013

In her new book, Diane Ravitch commits the exact same errors for which she lambastes reformers. She oversells the evidence; she fails to consider likely unintended consequences; she doesn’t think through implementation challenges.

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