Author Profile

Joy Pullmann

Joy Pullmann is managing editor of The Federalist and author of The Education Invasion: How Common Core Fights Parents for Control of American Kids, out from Encounter Books February 28. She previously was managing editor of School Reform News at the Heartland Institute and the assistant editor for The American, an online magazine published by the American Enterprise Institute. Joy is also the 2013-14 recipient of a Robert Novak journalism fellowship for in-depth reporting on Common Core national education mandates. Joy has taught high school and middle school history, literature, and debate. She is a graduate of the Hillsdale College honors and journalism programs. She and her husband live in the Midwest and have four children ages five and younger. Follow her on Twitter (@JoyPullmann).

Articles by Joy Pullmann

‘Witches’ and ‘Viruses:’ The Activist-Academic Threat and a Policy Response

Jun 17, 2020 · Joy Pullmann and Sumantra Maitra · Comments Off

How much of academia is infiltrated by activists? Some conservatives claim that “neo-Marxism” and its sister paradigms like feminist pedagogy, post-structuralism, and post-modernism have long infected certain departments in the humanities and social sciences. Those paradigms have now spread to more disciplines and funding committees. However, conservatives have been slow to explain how activist departments … Continue reading “‘Witches’ and ‘Viruses:’ The Activist-Academic Threat and a Policy Response”

How Common Core Damages Students’ College Readiness

Mar 10, 2017 · Joy Pullmann · Comments Off

As Massachusetts was considering signing on to a national curriculum and testing plan called Common Core, one of its lead writers gave a presentation to its state board of education. Even Common Core advocate Professor Jason Zimba agreed this national program would prepare students “for the colleges most kids go to, but not for the … Continue reading “How Common Core Damages Students’ College Readiness”

Blueprints for Reform Sep 22, 2022
The university system in the United States has accomplished a great deal of good, but it has strayed from its chief goals of scholarly inquiry and responsible teaching, especially in the past 20 years. All too often, universities allow teaching to become shallow and trendy, failing to challenge students intellectually and disparaging traditional principles of … Continue reading “Blueprints for Reform”
Model System Policy: Minimum Admission Requirements Sep 22, 2022
Academic standards do not need to be identical for every institution in the country, and they shouldn’t be. But all baccalaureate institutions should require that applicants at least meet SAT or ACT college-ready test score benchmarks and have a minimum high school GPA of 3.0. They should also be expected to fulfill core course requirements. … Continue reading “Model System Policy: Minimum Admission Requirements”
Breaking Away From Leviathan: Colleges Can Thrive Without Federal Funding Aug 10, 2022
Can an academic institution be truly free if it relies on government funding? Perhaps in some perfect world, but today in the U.S., however, unencumbered generosity is not part of relationship between the federal government and higher education. Federal dollars mean federal mandates, and those mandates grow increasingly draconian. More and more, they stifle debate … Continue reading “Breaking Away From Leviathan: Colleges Can Thrive Without Federal Funding”

Woke Capture at UT-Knoxville Oct 5, 2022
It’s by now a commonplace story: State universities in “red” states, where most of the voters and legislators dislike progressive ideology, are being infiltrated by administrators and faculty who insist on implementing radically leftist policies and courses. Earlier this year, for example, the Martin Center published this article by Jonathan Small on the ways that … Continue reading “Woke Capture at UT-Knoxville”
Re: “Failing Introductory Economics” Oct 4, 2022
To the editor: I admire the fact that Professor Ross is not willing to “dumb down” his class in order to make it more popular. Colin Barnett Albuquerque, NM
Failing Introductory Economics Oct 3, 2022
In June 2014, I wrote a piece entitled “Reform Intro Economics” for Inside Higher Ed. There, I argued that then-current introductory economics courses were little changed from those of decades past. I further stated that the students of 2014 found the unrevised course somewhat unsatisfactory: Today’s students are … not accustomed to sitting through 50-minute … Continue reading “Failing Introductory Economics”