Member Since 2009


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, co-editor of Knowledge at the Core: Don Hirsch, Core Knowledge, and the Future of the Common Core, and co-editor of How to Educate an American. Petrilli is also a research 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 to create the U.S. 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.

Published Articles & Media

U.S. Supreme Court

Building Diverse College Campuses Starts in Kindergarten

In the wake of the Students for Fair Admissions, an urgent call to take on the “excellence gap”
Students at Stuyvesant High School leave after classes end for the week, March 13, 2020, in New York.

The Biggest Enemy of Equity Isn’t Excellence. It’s Mediocrity.

Schools can help children achieve their full potential.
Illustration

Fiscal Cliff Could Force Layoffs of the Best Teachers

Possible recession and end of pandemic aid loom, demanding fast action on ineffective teachers
A teacher instructs students in a classroom

The Evolving Education Reform Agenda

We simply must improve classroom instruction.
Illustration of a college graduate walking through a maze

First, Know Thyself. Then, Pick a Career Path

The potential of helping students see their potential
A restaurant worker chops vegetables

Work Instead of School: A Better Approach for Our Lowest-Performing Students?

A compromise between dropping out and staying in school would allow teenagers to move forward into the world of work, while remaining connected to the school system.
Image of a three-way rail switch

Of Course There’s Tracking in High Schools. Get Over It.

The real question is what the tracks look like, and where they head.

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