Matthew Ladner

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Matthew Ladner

My background story

What I did before joining Step Up For Students

What do I do on my day off?

How to reach out?

03/18/25 | Matthew Ladner

It all keeps adding up

I received some interesting responses to last week’s post where I showed some math on how few votes it could have swung control of the Arizona State Senate in the...

03/04/25 | Matthew Ladner

Arizona legislative races may have swung on K-12 choice in 2024

Arizona’s politics might be described as “Chaotic Purple,” but 2024 elections proved quite red at the state legislative level, with Republicans making gains in both the Arizona Senate and House....

02/25/25 | Matthew Ladner

Nation’s report card has better grades for charter schools

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) created a new measure of socioeconomic status for the 2024 exams. This is a welcome addition, and a better measure of student economic...

02/18/25 | Matthew Ladner

Why school systems fail

Authors Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson distinguished between “inclusive” and “extractive” institutions in their 2012 book “Why Nations Fail.” Inclusive political institutions allow broad political participation and are a...

02/11/25 | Matthew Ladner

Can Arizona regain the lost golden age of NAEP improvement?

“Sweet are the uses of adversity, Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head; And this our life, exempt from public haunt, Find...

02/04/25 | Matthew Ladner

Nation’s Report Card documents continued academic decline

The NAEP released 2024 results last week, and the results continued to disappoint, especially for disadvantaged student groups. While scores began to recover among high end performers, the decline continued...

01/27/25 | Matthew Ladner

Bootleggers don’t find religious tolerance convenient or profitable

In 2022 I wrote a piece here at Next Steps declaring myself President of the “Religious Charter Schools Should Be Permitted, Mandatory and Non-existent” club. Every other group under the...

01/21/25 | Matthew Ladner

Shall we play a game?

Australian defense economist/YouTube PowerPoint superstar Perun has provided another insightful video which is must-see viewing for anyone seeking to understand politics. US Navy Procurement Disasters – The Littoral Combat Ship...

01/14/25 | Matthew Ladner

Can you get ‘enough’ school variety?

Last week I had an opportunity to speak in Boise, Idaho, on school choice and the Arizona experience. In an interview on NPR, I addressed claims by choice opponents that...

01/07/25 | Matthew Ladner

Growth vs. decline

The Brennan Center has released projections of congressional reapportionment following the 2030 Census. The Brennan Center projects Florida and Texas to be the big winners, with each state gaining four...

12/24/24 | Matthew Ladner

ESA opponents endorse Anarcho-Capitalism in surprise move

When I was in graduate school, one of my fellow students described the movie Sudden Death to me. Something about terrorists, the vice president, a professional hockey game and Jean-Claude...

12/17/24 | Matthew Ladner

ProPublica goes full Dale Gribble

The television classic “King of the Hill” included a character known as Dale, who despite being a conspiracy theorist is entirely oblivious to the fact that that his wife is...

12/10/24 | Matthew Ladner

Ivy League Plus: Destructive or overrated?

David Brooks has a piece in the Atlantic called How the Ivy League Broke America: The meritocracy isn’t working We need something new that is generating a lot of...

12/04/24 | Matthew Ladner

Surpluses are just a party, and parties…

During World War II the British kept a group of stately manors for high-ranking German military prisoners. The British treated them well in these gilded cages, giving them full access...

11/26/24 | Matthew Ladner

Gen X lowers the hammer with more blows on the way

For we who grew up tall and proud In the shadow of the mushroom cloud Convinced our voices can’t be heard We just want to scream it louder and louder...

11/19/24 | Matthew Ladner

The pursuit of educational happiness in Arizona’s Roosevelt Elementary District

Facing a multimillion-dollar deficit, the board of the Roosevelt Elementary School District in Phoenix Arizona recently began a debate over a proposal to close as many as five schools, a...

11/13/24 | Matthew Ladner

Parent power is REAL

Vice President Harris received more votes from every generation of Americans except Gen X, but as it happens the loss of Gen X proved decisive. Gen X, Americans born between...

11/05/24 | Matthew Ladner

Election 2024: ‘Everything sad comes untrue’

Today is election day in America. In the immortal words of C3PO “Thank the Maker!” I do not know about the rest of you, but I am well past my...

10/30/24 | Matthew Ladner

Public schools and the looming shortage of American labor

Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has calculated a worker shortage index for each state, calculating the ratio of people looking for work...

10/22/24 | Matthew Ladner

Apocalypse NOT, Permissionless Education NOW

Francis Ford Coppola shot a scene for Apocalypse Now set in a plantation owned by die-hard French imperialists holding out in Vietnam. Set in 1968 during the height of the...