Patrick McAlister, principal of PM Strategies and former director of the Indianapolis Mayor’s Office of Education Innovation, and Shaina Cavazos, the office’s current director, join The Education Gadfly Show to discuss charter growth after the replication era. Drawing on their experience with closures and mergers in Indianapolis, they explain why authorizers and charter boards may need new approaches as enrollment declines and the sector matures.

Then, on the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines new research on content rich reading instruction and finds that while teachers are using strong foundational skills curricula, students often get too few chances to build fluency and vocabulary.

Recommended content:

• Beyond Replication: What Responsible Charter Growth Looks Like Now —Jed Wallace, CharterFolk
• The 10-year test for durable schools —Robert Pondiscio, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• Do Authorizer Evaluations Predict the Success of New Charter Schools? — Adam Kho, Ph.D., Shelby Leigh Smith, and Douglas Lee Lauen, Ph.D., Thomas B. Fordham Institute
• Bridging the Divide: Connecting Word Recognition and Language Comprehension in Early Literacy —Anna Jennerjohn, Sara Rutherford-Quach, Lauren J. Cassidy, Katrina Woodworth, Sarah Dec, and Dan Reynolds, SRI (2026)

Feedback Welcome: Have ideas for improving our show? We would love to hear them. Send them to thegadfly@fordhaminstitute.org