Member Since 2011

Robert Pondiscio


Robert Pondiscio is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he focuses on K–12 education, curriculum, teaching, school choice, and charter schooling. Before joining AEI, he was a policy analyst and education reform expert at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education policy think tank. He previously worked for the Core Knowledge Foundation and as an adviser and civics teacher at Democracy Prep Public Schools. He writes and speaks extensively on education and education-reform issues, with an emphasis on literacy, curriculum, teaching, and urban education. After twenty years in journalism, including senior positions at TIME and BusinessWeek, Robert became a fifth-grade teacher at a struggling South Bronx public school in 2002. He subsequently served as vice president for the Core Knowledge Foundation. Robert’s articles and op-ed columns on education have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, the New York Daily News, Education Next, and many other publications. A frequent speaker and expert guest on education issues, he has appeared on the Fox News Channel, CNN, and elsewhere.

Published Articles & Media

Campaign signs for Robert Pondiscio on a lawn

What I Learned Running for School Board

School districts and teachers unions rig the vote
Re’Shawn Rogers, a 2012 graduate of Eastern Michigan University, is working to open a new charter school, Destine Prep, in Schenectady, New York.

What Next for New York Charter Schools?

The era of explosive growth of network-run, “no excuses” charter schools is over. Tentatively emerging: “community-based” charter schools.

“If you don’t provide results for kids…then you don’t get your school renewed.”

A "venture bureaucrat" tells how she tripled the number of charter schools in New York—while also holding failing schools accountable.

“How’d You Do It?” Mississippi’s Superintendent of Education Explains State’s Learning Gains

“Data and accountability will drive the behaviors that you want to see,” Carey Wright says in exit interview
Exterior of a school building

Could Great Hearts Academy Change the Face of Private Education?

Great Hearts is the largest operator of classical charter schools in the U.S., with 33 schools serving 22,000 students in Arizona and Texas.
Cover of Maus by Art Spiegelman

The Maus that Roared

Who do you want to decide what’s best for kids?
Photo of a black stretch limousine

Education’s Enduring Love Affair with “Luxury Beliefs”

It’s easy to be blithe about school safety and policing when your child goes to a safe, well-run school.
Book cover of "Scripting the Moves"

No Excuses, Revisited

A thoughtful but dated criticism of “no excuses” schools
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, center, and lawmakers gather Wednesday, March 10, 2021, for a news conference to announce that leaders of the state legislature and the governor have reached an agreement to reopen the state's K-12 public schools to full-time daily instruction in Raleigh.

Can Teaching Be Improved by Law?

At least twenty states have passed or are considering measures related to the science of reading.

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