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 Senate. Included in the bill are huge changes to student lending. In particular, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act would make drastic changes to loan limits, repayment plans, and the rules for which programs are eligible to participate in the student loan program. What is the rationale behind these changes? How would these change...
Jun 25, 2025•1 hr
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 launched Chicago Connected to provide free broadband for students in the city who needed it most. But, according to a recent paper, Chicago Connected did not help all students equally. In Heterogeneous Effects of Closing the Digital Divide During COVID-19 on Student Engagement and Achievement , authors Jared N. Schachner,...
Jun 11, 2025•53 min
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 the Department of Education to rehire the employees it had fired. And the Supreme Court split 4–4 on Oklahoma’s religious charter school. —And all of that was just on May 22. On this episode of The Report Card , Nat Malkus discusses these developments, and more, with Andy Rotherham and Rick Hess . Nat, Andy, and Rick discu...
Jun 04, 2025•1 hr 10 min
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 question that needs to be asked: Does all this social media use promote healthy development? Does it help kids develop into well-formed adults? Does it help kids become resilient to the challenges they will face in their lives? And does it help kids learn how to interact constructively with their peers? On this episode of Th...
May 28, 2025•57 min
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 reconciliation, what the creation of a national tax credit scholarship program would mean for school choice, how potential changes to student lending would affect borrowers and schools, why Republicans are interested in increasing the endowment tax, whether DOGE is done for, and why the education research establishment is str...
May 21, 2025•1 hr 12 min
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 diffe...
May 14, 2025•49 min
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 And...
May 07, 2025•1 hr 5 min
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...
Apr 29, 2025•1 hr 22 min
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. O...
Apr 23, 2025•1 hr 12 min
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 Succe...
Apr 17, 2025•57 min
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 Rep...
Apr 09, 2025•1 hr 8 min
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...
Apr 02, 2025•58 min
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? O...
Mar 19, 2025•1 hr 2 min
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 Acker...
Mar 05, 2025•1 hr 52 min
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 program...
Feb 19, 2025•1 hr 6 min
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 grade reading and math. Nat, Marty, and Mark discuss why math scores went up or stayed flat while reading scores declined; potential bright spots in the 2024 results; whether recent score declines should be attributed to factors external to schooling; what makes NAEP the gold standard assessment of US students; what the Flo...
Feb 05, 2025•59 min
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. On this episode of The Report Card , Nat Malkus speaks with Emily Hanford , host of Sold a Story . Nat and Emily discuss why Sold a Story took off, the impact Sold a Story has had on the literacy landscape, the state of investigative journalism in 2025, the pros and cons of podcasting, common misunderstandings of Sold a ...
Jan 22, 2025•56 min
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 mood like on campus when many students are called up to fight? Do courses in the liberal arts feel less relevant in the middle of a war? And how do the practicalities of war affect day-to-day academic operations? On this episode of The Report Card , Nat Malkus discusses these questions—and more—with Russ Roberts , presi...
Jan 08, 2025•1 hr 1 min
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 expect from the coming year? On this episode of The Report Card , Nat Malkus discusses these questions, and more, with three education journalists: Dana Goldstein of The New York Times , Linda Jacobson of The 74 , and Eric Kelderman of The Chronicle of Higher Education . Show Notes: The Youngest Pandemic Children Are No...
Dec 30, 2024•52 min
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 these exceptional students will not make good on their potential. So: How can we make sure that more exceptional students have access to the mentors they need? How exceptional do these mentors need to be? And how many exceptional students are we currently missing out on? On this episode of The Report Card , Nat Malkus disc...
Dec 11, 2024•53 min
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, researchers have known about the benefits of phonics for decades, but despite these benefits, many teachers were not using phonics in their classrooms. So: Why don’t research-based practices make their way into the classroom? What research-based practices that aren’t currently well-known among teachers should teachers try...
Nov 27, 2024•1 hr 1 min
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 Democrats and Republicans team up on workforce issues? And who will be the next secretary of education? On this episode of The Report Card , Nat Malkus discusses these questions and more with Derrell Bradford, Preston Cooper, Ginny Gentles, Heather Harding, and Rick Hess. Derrell Bradford is the president of 50CAN: The 5...
Nov 13, 2024•1 hr 9 min
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 affect students who remain in traditional public schools; what other choice mechanisms can tell us about universal ESAs; the effects of school accountability on life outcomes; holding students back; the teaching quality of non-tenure-track professors; the importance of cultivating researcher-district relationships; whethe...
Oct 30, 2024•48 min
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 program shapes what many students study both in high school and in college. This is a lot of power for one company to have, and naturally raises some questions. How does the College Board understand its role in the college admissions process, and how does it think about the college admissions landscape? What is the purpose of...
Oct 16, 2024•54 min
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, safe spaces, and the removal of sexually explicit books from elementary school libraries; how sectarian colleges should balance religious interests with free speech protections; when it is appropriate for universities to issue statements on world affairs; the difficulty of testifying before Congress; whether governors can i...
Oct 02, 2024•55 min
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 off like it used to. And college is only worth it if you go to the most selective schools. But is this narrative right? Are college costs going up? How do college costs in the US compare with college costs in other countries? What is the return on investment (ROI) like for students at different schools? How does ROI differ...
Sep 18, 2024•1 hr 2 min
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 pandemic’s effects on student technology use, parent-teacher communication, and individualized instruction; why pandemic-era changes seem more durable in high schools and middle schools than in elementary schools; whether charter schools changed as much during the pandemic as conventional public schools did; what the pandemic’s e...
Sep 04, 2024•52 min
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 Superintendent of Schools in Maryland. Nat and Carey discuss the Mississippi Miracle; how to get teachers to buy in to major interventions; professional development; the purpose of grade retention policies; math instruction; the importance of the education leadership environment in a state; why some state leaders may care...
Aug 21, 2024•58 min
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 many correct answers to these questions, but on this episode of The Report Card we want to narrow it down and focus on one particular school, Michaela , that has a very particular set of answers to these questions. Located near London’s Wembley Stadium, Michaela is a free school that opened its doors in 2014 and today has ...
Aug 07, 2024•51 min
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 pandemic learning loss—but did it work? Did ESSER help kids catch up? Did it help some students more than others? And should the federal government spend more to address COVID learning loss? On this episode of The Report Card , Nat Malkus discusses these questions, and more, with Dan Goldhaber . Dan Goldhaber is the Dire...
Jul 24, 2024•58 min
