The Report Card with Nat Malkus

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.Europe took a different approach.In many European countries, schools reopened that first pandemic spring, only weeks after closing. Schools, officials determined, were safe to reopen.So: Why did American schools stay closed so long? Why did America not follow Europe’s lead? And why did Europe and the US respond so differently to the same evidence?On this episode of The Report Card, Nat Malkus discusses these questions, and more, with David Zweig.David Zweig is a journalist and the author of An Abundance of Caution: American Schools, the Virus, and a Story of Bad Decisions.

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 of schooling and religious liberty. Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a massive ESA bill into law. President Trump signed a raft of executive orders on education. And the Trump administration continued its fight with Harvard.On this episode of The Report Card, Nat Malkus discusses these developments, and more, with Andy Rotherham and Rick Hess.Andrew J. Rotherham is a co-founder and senior partner at Bellwether and the author of the Eduwonk blog.Frederick M. Hess is a senior fellow and the director of education policy studies at AEI.Show Notes:Should Democrats Become Pro-Voucher/ESA? Plus Pro-(school) choice Fish.Caffeine HeadacheTrump’s 100 Days: The Good, the Bad, and the ConfoundingMy Uber Driver Doesn’t Get Trump’s Approach to EducationDrunken Sailors in Our Schools

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 become the nation’s first religious charter school.On this episode of The Report Card, Nat Malkus and four experts discuss and debate the case and the many questions it raises: Can religious charter schools be constitutional? What would religious charter schooling mean for American education? Are religious charter schools good for school choice? And what might Oklahoma’s religious charter school mean for the future of religious education? Derek Black is a professor of law and the Ernest F. Hollings Chair in Constitutional Law at the University of South Carolina School of Law. Joshua Dunn is the Executive Director of the Institute of American Civics at the Howard H. Baker School of Public Policy and Public Affairs at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.Kathleen Porter-Magee is an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute and the managing partner of the Leadership Roundtable, a Catholic nonprofit.Andy Smarick is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, where he focuses on education, civil society, and the principles of American conservatism.Note: This episode is adapted from the most recent installment of the American Enterprise Institute’s Education Policy Debate Series, which was held at AEI on April 16. A video recording of the debate can be found here.

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 Trump administration has revoked the visas of hundreds of international students. NAEP is being scaled back. Iowa requested a waiver from the Department of Education to exercise more flexibility in how it spends federal funds. And two Supreme Court cases might alter the relationship between religion and public education.On this episode of The Report Card, Nat Malkus discusses these developments, and more, with Andy Rotherham and Rick Hess.Andrew J. Rotherham is a co-founder and senior partner at Bellwether and the author of the Eduwonk blog.Frederick M. Hess is a senior fellow and the director of education policy studies at AEI.Show Notes:The Department of Ed Meets Office SpaceTrump’s Tariffs Complicate His Ambitious Education AgendaThese Things Happen In Threes, Plus SCOTUS Incoming For Schools.

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; whether chronically absent students should face consequences for their poor attendance; why, despite its strong academic performance, Success Academy decided to overhaul its curriculum; what Success Academy looks for when hiring new teachers; Success Academy’s potential expansion into Florida and Texas; the challenges Success Academy faced in expanding into high school; whether charter schools have lived up to their original promise; and what’s next for Success Academy.Eva Moskowitz is the founder and CEO of Success Academy Charter Schools, a network of 57 schools in New York City educating 22,000 students. Despite 72% of its students being economically disadvantaged, Success Academy ranked first on the 2024 New York State Grade 3–8 math exam.

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 has taken aggressive actions targeting elite universities and has threatened to withhold funding from K–12 schools over DEI programming. And the Department of Education said that states would lose nearly $3 billion in COVID relief funds after prior extensions on spending deadlines were rescinded.On this episode of The Report Card, Nat Malkus discusses these developments, and more, with Andy Rotherham and Rick Hess. Andrew J. Rotherham is a co-founder and senior partner at Bellwether and the author of the Eduwonk blog.Frederick M. Hess is a senior fellow and the director of education policy studies at AEI.Show Notes:These Things Happen In Threes, Plus SCOTUS Incoming For Schools.What Did You Expect to Happen? How DEI Wound Up in Trump’s CrosshairsHigher Ed Is the New Big OilA Memo to College Presidents

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 align with what we know about how students learn to read.Are there any obvious parallels in math instruction?Are there bad ideas about how students learn math that prevent students from learning more? Is there a disconnect between math education research and classroom practice? And what does the evidence say about what good math instruction looks like?On this episode of The Report Card, Nat Malkus discusses these questions, and more, with Anna Stokke. Nat and Anna discuss common math myths, the quality of math textbooks, whether evidence-based practice is just common sense, mandatory times table tests, the concept of math anxiety, what math professors get wrong about teaching math, and why fads in math education catch on.Anna Stokke is a mathematics professor at the University of Winnipeg and the host of Chalk & Talk, a podcast about math education.

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 over 100 at the Institute of Education Sciences. All told, since Trump took office, the workforce at the Department of Education has been cut nearly in half.What is the operating strategy behind these cuts? What effect will these cuts have on schools? And what do these cuts tell us about the Trump administration’s plans? On this episode of The Report Card, Nat Malkus discusses these questions, and more, with Andy Rotherham and Rick Hess.Andrew J. Rotherham is a co-founder and senior partner at Bellwether and the author of the Eduwonk blog.Frederick M. Hess is a senior fellow and the director of education policy studies at AEI.Show Notes:Wednesday's Department Of Education Is Full Of Woe. SCOTUS Religious Charter Schools Action. It's OK To Say Diversity. Plus Frozen Fish Pics!The Incredible Shrinking Department of EducationRunning Down DOGE’s Department of Education Receipts

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 asking for an antitrust exemption to help navigate these changes. The NCAA is surely facing a complex set of challenges, but an antitrust exemption is a big ask. This raises the question: Is an antitrust exemption a reasonable response to the current challenges facing college sports, a uniquely American institution?Val Ackerman is the commissioner of the Big East Conference. Previously, she was the founding president of the WNBA.Jim Cavale is the founder of Athletes.org.Ross Dellenger is a senior college football reporter at Yahoo Sports.Matthew Mitten is the executive director of National Sports Law Institute at Marquette University.Katherine Van Dyck is the founder of KVD Strategies.Note: This episode is adapted from the most recent installment of the American Enterprise Institute’s Education Policy Debate Series, which was held at AEI on February 27. A video recording of the debate can be found here.

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 rise. One important part of this story might be the rise of credit recovery programs. Each year, credit recovery programs help students who have failed a course continue their schooling without repeating a year. But what exactly are credit recovery programs? How do students who participate in online credit recovery programs fare later in life? Can credit recovery courses be improved? And if so, how?On this episode of The Report Card, Nat Malkus discusses these questions, and more, with Carolyn J. Heinrich. Carolyn J. Heinrich is a University Distinguished Professor of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations and Political Science and the Patricia and Rodes Hart Professor of Public Policy, Education and Economics at Vanderbilt University.Show Notes:Design Principles for Effective Online Credit RecoveryFailing to Learn from Failure: The Facade of Online Credit Recovery AssessmentsDoes Online Credit Recovery in High School Support or Stymie Later Labor Market Success?Mapping the Inequity Implications of Help-Seeking in Online Credit-Recovery Classrooms