Faith-Based Charter Schools and the Future of School Choice with Andy Smarick
Susan Pendergrass speaks with Andy Smarick, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, about a recent U.S. Supreme Court case that...
What the New Federal K-12 Tax Credit Program Could Mean for Missouri
One of the most notable policies in the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) is the establishment of the first-ever federal...
Let’s Celebrate (and learn from) State Tech, One of the Best Technical Colleges in the Country
State Tech in Linn bills itself as “Missouri’s premier technical college, dedicated to providing hands-on, industry-driven education that prepares students...
Crime, Public Safety, and Perception in St. Louis with Braxton Steele
Susan Pendergrass speaks with Braxton Steele, intern at the Show-Me Institute and student at Missouri State University, about his summer...
The One Big Education Opportunity with Shaka Mitchell
Susan Pendergrass speaks with Shaka Mitchell, senior fellow at the American Federation for Children, about how a new federal scholarship...
How Often Should Schools Close?
I’ve been writing a lot lately about the poor performance of Missouri’s schools; for recent examples, see here and here....
Understanding the Decline in Student Test Scores with Jim Wyckoff
Susan Pendergrass speaks with Dr. Jim Wyckoff about how national test scores, especially for the lowest-performing students, began falling well before the pandemic and what states can do to reverse the trend.
In St. Louis County, Who Will Audit the Auditors?
A version of this commentary appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. When one thinks of no-show political jobs in Missouri government,...
“Just Let Me Write the Definitions”
In The Power Broker, Robert Caro’s legendary biography of Robert Moses, Caro describes how Moses was fully capable of getting...
Missouri’s Squandered Opportunity
The first step toward finding a solution is admitting there’s a problem. It’s been obvious to anyone who’s been paying...
Statistics Shows Crime Numbers Converging for Major Missouri Cities
The violent crime statistics in the cities of St. Louis, Kansas City, and Springfield tell a much different story today...
One Big Beautiful Bill Breakdown, Part II with Elias Tsapelas
Susan Pendergrass is joined again by Elias Tsapelas, director of state budget and fiscal policy at the Show-Me Institute, for...
Medicaid Reform Incoming
Ready or not, big changes are coming to Missouri’s Medicaid program. Earlier this month, President Trump signed the “One Big...
A Freeze in July?
As a former tutor at a Tennessee Boys & Girls Club, a recent headline caught my eye: the Boys &...
St. Louis’s Improving Crime Data
If you were to guess that St. Louis was the most dangerous city in Missouri, you would be correct. You...
Missouri Families Need the “Unsafe School Choice Option”
A version of the following commentary appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. When asked why they want school choice, families often...
The MOScholars Program: Why and How to Participate
On July 10, 2025, Keith Kehrer and Derek Rose, lawyers from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, joined Show-Me Institute Director of...
School Choice Case Study: Charter Schools in Los Angeles
A 2024 study published in Education Finance and Policy finds that enrollment in one of five popular charter high schools...
What Could New Executive Orders on Nuclear Mean for Missouri?
In a recent op-ed, I discussed how national security may once again be a catalyst for the development and deployment...
What’s in a NAEP Score?
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), often called the Nation’s Report Card, is the gold standard for measuring academic...
