Vladimir Kogan

NO ADULT LEFT BEHIND will be out July 31! Preorder now: amazon.com/Adult-Left-Beh… Request review copy: cambridge.org/us/universityp…

My thoughts on the school choice dilemma facing Democratic governors: wsj.com/opinion/democr… @alexanderrusso @JoanneLeeJacobs @marcportermagee @Dale_Chu

Will Democratic leaders opt their states into the new federal school choice program? Or will they bow to the demands of the teachers unions and bar the schoolhouse door? asks @MichaelPetrilli on.wsj.com/4kBHQAP

Prediction: Disability accommodations will be next big higher ed culture war battle (after DEI/CRT, anti-Semitism, etc.). Hopefully folks will take reasonable concerns seriously and work on solutions themselves, instead of waiting to have them imposed. wsj.com/opinion/how-ch…

Incredibly sad news. Bob was a model and inspiration for many of us -- always doing important, policy relevant work. RIP. news.rice.edu/news/2025/rice…

"Ban the Box" policies increase mortality due to drug overdoses among Black and Latino men by ~30% -- by reducing employment opportunities. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions... onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.10…

My review of Shep Melnick's brilliant book "'The Crucible of Desegregation" is out! If you think you know everything there is to know about the Brown deseg case, you're probably wrong. In fact, most of what you think you know is probably wrong. Sample: journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/73…

Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther will almost certainly try to claim credit for recent crime decline. (He does that when crime is down; yet blames "root causes" in years when it goes up.) But Columbus is middle of the pack nationally. Nothing special. CC: @baileygallion

"Follow the Leader" politics has come for school accountability, @MichaelTHartney shows. The best thing Trump could do for K-12 education is come out against standardized testing. Support among Democrats would rebound for sure! the74million.org/article/suppor…

Yet another study (by @BradMarianno) showing that when school districts are given money intended for disadvantaged students, they spend a lot of it on *other* kids. Local democracy and electoral incentives in action! California's LCFF did the same thing. direct.mit.edu/edfp/article-a…

An important part of the story here is willingness of California Dems to take on organized labor (a major source of campaign $$) for the greater, common good. Something the party desperately needs to do nationally on education.

Recent housing reforms in California show the power of ideas. When @ConorDougherty's "Golden Gates" book came out in 2020, the YIMBY movement was an odd curiosity. Five years later, it is the majority coalition. Lots of lessons here (for ed reform, too). politico.com/news/2025/07/1…

"Elected school boards govern local school districts, but only adults vote in local elections – most of whom don't have children or care about academics. This leads to educational debates that are centered around issues that adults care most about, such as partisanship, identity…

His solution? Civic ed. should focus on study of constitution. Teach ideas around which there is consensus ("articles in the creed of republicanism, which are accepted by all, believed in by all"). On contested topics, teachers should "read it without comment or remark."

Many claim adherence to Horace Mann's progressive vision of "Common Schools." But few seem to know he was very concerned about schools becoming caught up in adult political and partisan fights -- used as tools for indoctrinating a captive audience of children!

Odd that people who believe Donald Trump is an existential threat to democracy love Gavin Newsom, who does the same stuff from other side. Including filing ruinous lawsuits against news organizations over their coverage of him... latimes.com/entertainment-…

Checker Finn: SNAP shouldn't fund junk food, and ESAs shouldn't fund terrible or fraudulent schools and providers. We're not talking about a high bar here, people! fordhaminstitute.org/national/comme…

Lots of good changes, but excluding non-graduates is HUGE loophole. Programs will game system by pushing out disadvantaged students prior to graduation. Same thing happened in K-12 in early 2000s, when districts gamed special ed ID to remove students from denominator.

Heard today about how econ PhD programs now expect students to do "pre-docs" -- because everyone has perfect college GPAs. Exactly what we warned about re: grade inflation (and pandemic grade adjustments). Just leads to additional requirements, which hurt the most disadvantaged.

Love @MQ_McShane, but found his response weak. "It is a distraction because it does not address the core problem that plagues voucher programs: There are not enough good schools to go around" sounds a lot like "Socialism hasn't failed b/c real socialism has never been tried."

Inclusionary zoning is a targeted tax on the construction of new housing — the absolute worst way you could think of to raise money for investments in social housing projects. slowboring.com/p/inclusionary…