The Report Card with Nat Malkus

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 and social media corresponded not only to a rise in the incidence of mental health problems but to a decline in academic performance. Indeed, in popular media, there almost seems to be a consensus emerging: It’s the phones, stupid.But is the popular media consensus correct? What does the research say? And what is the state of the research? On this episode of The Report Card, Nat Malkus discusses these questions and more with Pete Etchells.Pete Etchells is Professor of Psychology and Science Communication at Bath Spa University in the UK and is the author of Unlocked: The Real Science of Screen Time (and how to spend it better).Show Notes:Unlocked: The Real Science of Screen Time (and how to spend it better) (Note: Unlocked is not yet available in US stores but can be purchased from UK booksellers and shipped to the US.)Scroll On: Why Your Screen-Time Habits Aren’t as Bad as You Think They AreLost in a Good Game: Why We Play Video Games and What They Can Do for UsSmartphone Bans, Student Outcomes and Mental Health

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 with the civic culture at universities. But how do we change course? How do we create a healthier civic culture on campus? And how can we train the next generation of Americans both to respect freedom of speech and be respectful in disagreement?On this episode of The Report Card, Nat Malkus discusses these questions, and more, with Paul Carrese. Nat and Paul discuss the proper content and aims of civic education, why civic education matters, whether civic education is too boring, how individuals benefit from civic education, whether civic education is conservative, why universities have turned away from civic education, whether civic education is indoctrination, Arizona State University's School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership, when it is appropriate for state governments to get involved in deciding what courses college students should take, why private universities should create schools of civic thought, and more.Paul Carrese is a professor in the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership at Arizona State University and served as its founding director from 2016–2023.Show Notes:How Civics Can Remedy Higher Education’s DeclineA New Birth of Freedom in Higher Education: Civic Institutes at Public UniversitiesCivic Thought and Leadership: A Higher Civics to Sustain American Constitutional Democracy

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 Emergency Relief Fund), changed school budgets across the country. But this September, ESSER will come to an end, meaning that—on average—schools will have to reduce their budgets by over $1,000 per student.How will schools respond? What will get cut? And what should education leaders know to minimize the impacts of the funding cliff? On this episode of The Report Card, Nat Malkus discusses these questions, and more, with Marguerite Roza. Marguerite Roza is a research professor at Georgetown University and the director of the Edunomics Lab.Show Notes:School Boards Face Their Most Difficult Budget Season Ever. Many Are UnpreparedThe ESSER Fiscal Cliff Will Have Serious Implications for Student EquityNational Education Resource Database on Schools (NERDS)How Within-District Spending Inequities Help Some Schools to Fail

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 aligned (and why they usually aren’t); SEL; where Common Core fell short; E.D. Hirsch and the importance of teaching content; why economics, music, and philosophy should be taken more seriously in secondary education than they usually are; AP exams and CTE; teachers unions, master’s pay premiums, and schools of education; whether school is boring; why American teachers tend to focus more on students and less on subject matter than teachers abroad; the state of the humanities in American education; teaching students Ancient Greek; how not to teach Shakespeare; and more.David Steiner is Executive Director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy, Professor of Education at Johns Hopkins University, and the author of A Nation at Thought: Restoring Wisdom in America's Schools. He was previously Dean at the Hunter College School of Education and the Commissioner of Education for New York State.Show Notes:A Nation at Thought: Restoring Wisdom in America's SchoolsArguing Identity: Session ThreeMake Sense of the Research: A Primer for Educational LeadersDon’t Give Up on Curriculum Reform Just Yet

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 opposition from Democrats, but should more Democrats support ESAs, especially because ESAs would seem to more greatly benefit the urban areas that Democrats tend to represent than the rural areas that Republicans tend to represent?On this episode of The Report Card, four Democrats—Marcus Brandon, Ravi Gupta, Bethany Little, and Graig Meyer—debate whether their fellow Democrats should support ESAs. Nat, Marcus, Ravi, Bethany, and Graig discuss whether ESAs are regressive, whether Democratic voters support ESAs, whether Democrats should focus on private school choice instead of public school choice, and more.Marcus Brandon is the executive director of CarolinaCAN and was previously a state representative in the North Carolina House of Representatives.Ravi Gupta is founder of The Branch and was previously the founder and CEO of RePublic Schools, a network of charter schools in the South. Bethany Little is a principal at EducationCounsel. She has spent twenty years working in government and non-profit organizations, including the White House and the U.S. Department of Education.Graig Meyer is a state senator in North Carolina and previously served in the North Carolina House of Representatives.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 29. A video recording of the debate can be found here.

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 Childhood, K–12, and College. Nat, Rick, and Mike discuss what principles a conservative vision for education should be grounded in, whether No Child Left Behind was conservative, why family policy should be part of a conservative vision for education, why now is an opportune time for conservatives to take the lead on education, the pandemic’s effects on the politics of schooling, the culture wars, where conservatives have come up short on education in the past, the value of bipartisanship in education, where civics education has gone wrong, the state of education research, parental rights and parental responsibilities, and more.Frederick M. Hess is a senior fellow and the director of education policy studies at AEI.Michael McShane is the Director of National Research at EdChoice. Show Notes:Getting Education Right: A Conservative Vision for Improving Early Childhood, K–12, and CollegeParents’ Rights, Yes. But Parent Responsibilities, TooThe Party of Education in 2024Four States That Are Leading the Charge for Conservative Education

Discover the surge in homeschooling rates during the pandemic and the factors driving this shift. Uncover the complexities of homeschooling data, debunk stereotypes, and explore diverse educational models like micro-schooling. Dive into the impact of ESAs on homeschooling trends and forecast the future of homeschooling over the next decade.

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 improved, the differences between music and art instruction, whether artistic talent is innate or can be taught, how art instruction has changed over the last 200 years, Velazquez, showing children art documentaries, why it's important to teach fundamentals before higher order skills, drawing with pencil and paper, the Zorn palette, the importance of coherence and consistency in an educational program, the management of Italian art museums, the proper age at which to start rigorous art training, and more.Tom Richards is a painter and the director of the Florence Academy of Art.Show Notes:The Florence Academy of Art: Instagram, Website, Drawing and Painting Program, Student Gallery, Alumni GalleryTom Richards: Instagram, Website

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 over the past year, how ESA programs work, the differences between ESAs and vouchers, the pandemic's effects on school choice, whether interest in ESAs solely comes from the right, the difficulty of starting charter schools, single-sex schools, the quality of education surveys, whether ESAs harm public schools in rural districts, the challenges of implementing ESAs, school choice and Catholic schools, how ESAs affect homeschooling, and more.Mike McShane is the Director of National Research at EdChoice and the author and editor of a number of books on education policy.Show Notes:Implementing K–12 Education Savings AccountsWhat is an Education Savings Account (ESA)?The School Choice Movement Needs To Get BoringAEI's 2024 Summer Honors Program

Nat Malkus and Dylan Wiliam discuss PISA results, differences in US and UK education, the importance of formative assessment, challenges in teacher improvement, making learning responsive, AI in education, and the need for de-implementation in education.