The Report Card with Nat Malkus is the education podcast of the American Enterprise Institute. It is a hub for discussing innovative work to improve education – from early childhood to higher education – and the lives of America’s children. It evaluates research, policy, and practice efforts to improve the lives of families, schools and students. The Report Card seeks to engage with everyone who is interested in education in an accessible way. It brings guests that are doing compelling work across a spectrum from high level policy changes to innovations at the classroom level, work that will start conversations about improv...
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Nov 12, 2026 · 1:19:14
It has now been a week since the midterm elections, but as the dust begins to settle, many questions remain about what the midterms will mean for education. What will happen to…
Nov 5, 2026 · 1:10:24
On Tuesday, America voted in the midterm elections. Unless you live under a rock, you have probably heard much about what the results of the election might mean for our country,…
Oct 21, 2026 · 1:26:17
On The Report Card , we talk a lot about schools, but in this episode we do something a little different and talk about one of the populations schools serve: adolescents. How are…
Oct 7, 2026 · 58:37
Kumon, Sylvan Learning, Mathnasium, and Huntington Learning Center—these private tutoring chains are familiar names, but they have received little attention from education…
Sep 23, 2026 · 1:07:40
Proponents of education technology have often made big promises about its potential to transform schooling, but so far, ed tech has failed to live up to its promise. Will AI also…
Sep 9, 2026 · 1:26:02
According to many in the Trump administration, closing the US Department of Education would increase efficiency, reduce bureaucracy, and give states more control over education.…
Aug 26, 2026 · 58:04
Many schools today offer mental health programming, but according to Carolyn Gorman, a lot of school mental health programming is not only wasteful and ineffective but also…
Aug 12, 2026 · 1:33:01
AI is transforming not only the way students work but also the way they read. AI summarizes readings for students, changing the way they engage with texts, form judgments,…
Jul 29, 2026 · 1:14:56
On this episode of The Report Card , Nat Malkus speaks with John White about state education leadership, how the education landscape has changed over the last few decades,…
Jul 15, 2026 · 1:23:03
During the pandemic, national chronic absenteeism rates surged across all demographics, but what has happened to chronic absenteeism rates since then? Are chronic absenteeism…
Jul 1, 2026 · 1:02:10
In a few short days, we’ll be celebrating America’s 250th birthday, but rather than feeling uniformly triumphant and celebratory, America’s Semiquincentennial comes at a time…
Jun 17, 2026 · 1:07:26
The Department of Education has said it is trying to return education to the states, but what does that mean for the federal role in education and for the states expected to take…
Jun 3, 2026 · 1:18:50
Recently, Harvard faculty voted to push back on grade inflation at the institution by capping the proportion of A’s given to students at 20%. But according to a new paper,…
May 20, 2026 · 1:13:26
Historically, many didn’t consider Alabama to be at the forefront of education, but Alabama’s pandemic recovery may be among the best in the nation. Perhaps most impressively,…
May 6, 2026 · 1:21:43
Although the Trump administration’s efforts to reform education might not be making national headlines quite as often as they did one year ago, a lot has still happened in…
Apr 22, 2026 · 1:13:17
This podcast has covered AI in K–12 education a fair amount, but how will and how should AI change higher education? Should any human instructors be replaced with AI? Should…
Apr 8, 2026 · 56:36
Note: This episode originally aired in April 2025. On this episode of The Report Card , Nat Malkus speaks with Eva Moskowitz , the founder and CEO of Success Academy. Nat and Eva…
Mar 25, 2026 · 44:31
Recently, there has been a lot of handwringing over grade inflation both at the higher education and K–12 levels, but how big of a problem actually is grade inflation? What sort…
Mar 11, 2026 · 1:03:37
Math is one of the subjects that gets the most attention in American education, but how well do we actually understand what good math instruction should look like? Should math…
Feb 25, 2026 · 1:21:38
Over the past year, the Trump administration has rewritten the playbook for how Washington interacts with higher education, especially elite universities. How should universities…
Feb 11, 2026 · 1:13:08
To commemorate America’s 250th anniversary, The Report Card will be releasing a few episodes on the history of American education—both to discuss how we arrived at the education…
Jan 28, 2026 · 1:27:28
On the right, teachers’ unions are often treated as the bogeyman, and no one today is more synonymous with teachers’ unions than Randi Weingarten. Indeed, in 2022 former…
Jan 14, 2026 · 1:20:26
Can students learn math much faster than they typically do? Can students who feel like they have hit a wall in math instruction make steady progress again? And can math…
Dec 30, 2025 · 47:50
We are now coming to the end of another year. What were the biggest stories in education this year? What stories didn’t get as much attention as they should have? And what can we…
Dec 17, 2025 · 1:22:18
In classrooms across the nation, students and teachers are using AI—but should they be? AI’s advocates argue that it can be used to individualize instruction and provide…
Dec 3, 2025 · 1:09:32
One of the hottest names in education right now is Alpha School . A network of high-end private schools founded in Texas but with additional locations elsewhere, Alpha School…
Nov 19, 2025 · 1:09:33
On this episode of The Report Card , Nat Malkus , Rick Hess , and Andy Rotherham discuss what recent elections in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York City mean for education, the…
Nov 5, 2025 · 1:09:40
For decades, there has been research showing that tutoring can be a highly effective mode of instruction, but before 2020, large, in-school tutoring programs were not widespread.…
Oct 22, 2025 · 58:35
In August 2023, right after he took over as superintendent of Houston ISD, Mike Miles came on The Report Card to talk about his plans for Texas’s largest school district. From…
Oct 6, 2025 · 58:28
TikTok. Instagram. Constant notifications. Many worry that phones are destroying students’ ability to pay attention and, in turn, their ability to learn in the classroom. Indeed,…
Sep 24, 2025 · 1:14:01
Earlier this month, 2024 NAEP scores came out for 8th grade science and 12th grade reading and math, and the results were not good, with students losing ground in each subject.…
Sep 10, 2025 · 1:11:50
A lot has happened in education over the last couple of months. A new school year started for students across the country. State governors began announcing whether they would be…
Aug 27, 2025 · 54:22
Many school choice proponents today focus on what choice does for the students who use it to leave traditional public schools. But one of the original arguments for choice was…
Aug 13, 2025 · 1:10:49
Over the past decade, schools increasingly have become a battleground for political fights and culture wars that distract from student learning. But, according to a new book,…
Jul 30, 2025 · 55:19
Some say AI is the future of education, but there are reasons for skepticism, especially if we limit the conversation to the US and other wealthy countries. However, for many…
Jul 16, 2025 · 1:00:11
A lot has happened in education over the last few weeks. Among other things, Congress passed a national school choice program and reshaped the student loan system. The Justice…
Jun 25, 2025 · 59:58
About one month ago, the House passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a massive bill aimed at advancing President Trump’s domestic policy agenda. Now, the bill is with the…
Jun 11, 2025 · 53:05
When schools went remote during the pandemic, internet access became essential, but not all students had access to a high-quality connection. So, in the summer of 2020, Chicago…
Jun 4, 2025 · 1:09:49
A lot has happened over the past couple of weeks. The Trump administration announced that it would go after Harvard’s ability to enroll international students. A judge ordered…
May 28, 2025 · 56:35
Kids spend hours a day on their phones scrolling through social media. Many have debated whether all this social media use is bad for mental health, but there’s a more basic…
May 21, 2025 · 1:11:35
On this episode of The Report Card , Nat Malkus , Andy Rotherham , and Rick Hess break down the latest on the education policy landscape. Nat, Andy, and Rick discuss budget…
May 14, 2025 · 48:47
Five years ago, schools shut down for the COVID-19 pandemic. Schooling was remote for the rest of the year, and many schools would remain remote for much of the following year.…
May 7, 2025 · 1:04:48
It’s day 107 of the second Trump administration, and a lot has happened over the last two weeks. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases that sit at the intersection…
Apr 29, 2025 · 1:22:02
On April 30, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond , in which a virtual school in Oklahoma is attempting to…
Apr 23, 2025 · 1:11:44
It’s day 93 of the Trump administration, and the education landscape hasn’t yet calmed down. The Trump administration has gone after Harvard, and Harvard is fighting back. The…
Apr 17, 2025 · 56:36
On this episode of The Report Card , Nat Malkus speaks with Eva Moskowitz , the founder and CEO of Success Academy. Nat and Eva discuss why COVID learning loss is a misnomer;…
Apr 9, 2025 · 1:08:28
A lot has happened in the education world over the last few weeks. President Trump signed an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education. The Trump administration…
Apr 2, 2025 · 58:18
In the education world over the past few years, a lot of attention has been paid to phonics and balanced literacy and the ways in which reading instruction practices often don’t…
Mar 19, 2025 · 1:02:19
Last week, more than 1,300 individuals at the Department of Education were laid off, including over 300 at Federal Student Aid, nearly 250 at the Office for Civil Rights, and…
Mar 5, 2025 · 1:52:19
Since the Supreme Court’s 2021 decision in NCAA v. Alston paved the way for universities to pay student-athletes, college sports have changed dramatically. Now, the NCAA is…
Feb 19, 2025 · 1:06:18
Graduation rates have been rising for over a decade. Indeed, even during the pandemic, as students learned less and chronic absenteeism exploded, graduation rates continued to…
Feb 5, 2025 · 59:12
On this episode of The Report Card , Nat Malkus speaks with Marty West and Mark Schneider about 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results in 4th and 8th…
Jan 22, 2025 · 55:41
In 2022, Sold a Story debuted, bringing renewed attention—and scrutiny—to literacy instruction. Indeed, since Sold a Story came out, at least 25 states have passed reading laws.…
Jan 8, 2025 · 1:01:24
This past spring, protests over the war in Gaza roiled college campuses across America. But what sort of effect has the war in Gaza had on college campuses in Israel? What is the…
Dec 30, 2024 · 51:36
We are now coming to the end of another year. What were the biggest stories in education this year? What stories didn’t get as much attention as they should have? And what can we…
Dec 11, 2024 · 53:21
Exceptional students often become exceptional adults who help drive scientific progress and economic growth. But without mentors to identify and develop their talents, many of…
Nov 27, 2024 · 1:01:12
Many education researchers spend a lot of time studying how students learn, but if their findings don’t make their way into the classroom, they are only so useful. For example,…
Nov 13, 2024 · 1:09:11
What will last Tuesday’s elections mean for education? Will President Trump actually eliminate the Department of Education? What does the future of school choice look like? Will…
Oct 30, 2024 · 47:51
On this episode of The Report Card , Nat Malkus speaks with David Figlio about school choice, accountability, and peer effects. Nat and David discuss how school choice programs…
Oct 16, 2024 · 53:46
The College Board is one of the most influential education organizations in America: The SAT plays a large role in determining what college many students attend, and the AP…
Oct 2, 2024 · 55:23
On this episode of The Report Card , Nat Malkus speaks with Cass Sunstein about campus free speech. Nat and Cass discuss the legal considerations involved in campus protests,…
Sep 18, 2024 · 1:02:12
There’s a popular narrative according to which the financial benefits of going to college aren’t what they once were. College is increasingly unaffordable. College doesn’t pay…
Sep 4, 2024 · 52:13
On this episode of The Report Card , Nat Malkus speaks with Brian Jacob about the ways in which the pandemic changed the grammar of schooling. Nat and Brian discuss the…
Aug 21, 2024 · 58:23
On this episode of The Report Card , Nat Malkus speaks with Carey Wright about her tenure as State Superintendent of Education in Mississippi and the work ahead of her as State…
Aug 7, 2024 · 51:03
Note: This episode originally aired in June 2023. What does a good school look like? How does a good school operate? What does a good school do differently? There are probably…
Jul 24, 2024 · 57:47
During the pandemic, the federal government sent $190 billion in ESSER relief funding to America’s schools. Among other things, ESSER was intended to help students catch up from…
Jul 10, 2024 · 1:02:58
Over the past couple years, the education world has seen a renewed push for phonics instruction, often called “the science of reading.” But how science-based is the science of…
Jun 26, 2024 · 1:10:20
In the spring, campuses saw a wave of protests erupt over the war in Gaza. These protests, along with the controversial ways in which universities handled them, raised important…
Jun 12, 2024 · 47:27
In March of 2023, shortly after Khan Academy launched Khanmigo, its AI tutor and teaching assistant, Sal Khan came on the podcast to discuss Khanmigo and his hopes for AI in…
May 29, 2024 · 53:22
On this episode of The Report Card , Nat Malkus speaks with Mark Schneider, who recently finished up his six-year tenure as Director of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES).…
May 15, 2024 · 1:02:06
Are smartphones and social media bad for kids’ mental health? According to a number of recent books, articles, and op-eds, the answer is an emphatic yes : The rise of smartphones…
May 1, 2024 · 57:57
Over the past couple weeks, as campus protests and crackdowns on campus protests have captured the nation’s attention, it has become increasingly clear that something is wrong…
Apr 17, 2024 · 1:00:58
During the pandemic, the federal government sent $190 billion in COVID relief funds to America’s schools. These funds, known as ESSER (or the Elementary and Secondary School…
Apr 3, 2024 · 1:07:34
On this episode of The Report Card , Nat Malkus speaks with David Steiner about coherence and fragmentation; why curricula, teacher training programs, and assessments should be…
Mar 20, 2024 · 1:11:39
Over the last couple years, a number of states have enacted new universal education savings account (ESA) programs. Republicans have led these efforts with near universal…
Mar 6, 2024 · 1:05:45
On this episode of The Report Card , Nat Malkus speaks with Rick Hess and Mike McShane about their new book, Getting Education Right: A Conservative Vision for Improving Early…
Feb 21, 2024 · 54:29
During the pandemic, homeschooling rates spiked, reaching unprecedented levels. And although they have fallen some since then, homeschooling rates remain far higher than anything…
Feb 7, 2024 · 1:01:00
On this episode of The Report Card , Nat Malkus speaks with Tom Richards about the Florence Academy of Art, what serious art instruction looks like, how K–12 art education can be…
Jan 24, 2024 · 56:40
On this episode of The Report Card , Nat Malkus speaks with Mike McShane about education savings account (ESA) programs. Nat and Mike discuss the sudden growth in ESA programs…
Jan 10, 2024 · 1:00:13
On this episode of The Report Card , Nat Malkus speaks with Dylan Wiliam about the latest PISA results, education in the US vs. education in the UK, what tutors might learn that…
Dec 28, 2023 · 45:13
On this episode of The Report Card , Nat Malkus reviews the past year in education with Matt Barnum of The Wall Street Journal , Goldie Blumenstyk of The Chronicle of Higher…
Dec 13, 2023 · 53:52
On this episode of The Report Card , Nat Malkus speaks with Brian Jacob and Vladimir Kogan about school board elections. Nat, Brian, and Vlad discuss how effective school board…
Nov 29, 2023 · 50:48
On this episode of The Report Card , Nat Malkus speaks with Brooks Bowden about her recent paper The Unintended Consequences of Academic Leniency , co-authored by Viviana…
Nov 15, 2023 · 1:05:14
On this episode of The Report Card , Nat Malkus speaks with Ethan Hutt and Jack Schneider about their new book, Off the Mark: How Grades, Ratings, and Rankings Undermine Learning…
Nov 1, 2023 · 1:04:15
On this episode of The Report Card , Nat Malkus speaks with Melissa Kearney about her new book, The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started…
Oct 18, 2023 · 1:00:50
Note: This episode originally aired in September 2022. On this episode of The Report Card , Nat speaks with Doug Lemov about how cellphones and social media harm the academic and…
Oct 4, 2023 · 45:20
On this episode of The Report Card , Nat speaks with Roland Fryer about incentives and opportunity. Nat and Roland discuss paying students, parents, and teachers; the importance…
Sep 20, 2023 · 50:52
On July 12th, the California State Board of Education adopted a new math framework that will affect the way math is taught for the nearly 6 million students in California’s…
Sep 6, 2023 · 1:00:35
On the latest episode of The Report Card , Nat Malkus speaks with Laura Meckler about her new book, Dream Town: Shaker Heights and the Quest for Racial Equity . Nat and Laura…
Aug 23, 2023 · 55:57
In May, Eric Hanushek and Steven Rivkin joined the podcast to discuss their research on Dallas Independent School District’s Accelerating Campus Excellence program and its…
Aug 9, 2023 · 50:03
In the wake of the Supreme Court decision on affirmative action, selective colleges, and their admissions practices, have received a lot of scrutiny. Does going to a highly…
Jul 27, 2023 · 43:28
Ever since No Child Left Behind was signed into law in 2002, assessments have been a fixture of the education landscape—a very divisive one. But assessments have changed a lot…
Jul 12, 2023 · 51:41
At the end of this past November, OpenAI launched ChatGPT, and, since then, there has been a lot of discussion of what AI will mean for education. Will AI render teachers…
Jun 28, 2023 · 47:03
On this episode of The Report Card , Nat speaks with Larry Berger about the science of reading, education technology, curriculum and high-quality instructional materials,…
Jun 14, 2023 · 51:03
What does a good school look like? How does a good school operate? What does a good school do differently? There are probably many correct answers to these questions, but on this…
Jun 1, 2023 · 57:54
As we move past the pandemic, many are asking, “What’s next?” Some argue that now is the time for reinventing schooling. Others argue that right now we should simply focus on…
May 18, 2023 · 51:57
This episode is a little different than normal: it’s not directly about education. Instead, it’s about peer review, strong- and weak-link problems, and our biases in how we…
May 4, 2023 · 53:07
During the last decade, Dallas Independent School District overhauled its system for evaluating and compensating teachers and began a new program to attract teachers to…
Apr 19, 2023 · 47:15
We at the Report Card are on break this week, so we are re-upping a conversation from March 2022 that we think is interesting and important. We've talked a lot on the show about…
Apr 5, 2023 · 57:25
Teachers unions are undoubtedly a potent force in American education and politics. But questions about what teachers unions do, and why, are so politicized that the answers you…
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