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On the latest episode of The Report Card, https://www.aei.org/profile/nathaniel-n-malkus/ (Nat) interviews https://www.emily-morton.com (Emily Morton) and https://caldercenter.org/experts/dan-goldhaber (Dan Goldhaber) about their new paper https://cepr.harvard.edu/files/cepr/files/5-4.pdf?m=1651690491 (The Consequences of Remote and Hybrid Instruction During the Pandemic), which uses testing data from 2.1 million students in 10,000 schools in 49 states to investigate the role of remote and hybrid instruction in widening achievement gaps. Show Notes: https://cepr.harvard.edu/files/cepr/files/5-4.pdf?m=1651690491 (The Consequences of Remote and Hybrid Instruction During the Pandemic) https://caldercenter.org/sites/default/files/CALDER%20Working%20Paper%20266-0522_0.pdf (A Comprehensive Picture of Achievement Across the COVID-19 Pandemic Years: Examining Variation in Test Levels and Growth Across Districts, Schools, Grades, and Students) https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.3102/0013189X20948023?casa_token=cHckFNo2PnIAAAAA%3AIc9J8H2zQ1D7__pYnGCW8g-SbwxzPo8tz3ZLdvMYeQHegjPdq9NPBsTl7oplkN6rcsVcTBN1ndU (Effects of Four-Day School Weeks on School Finance and Achievement: Evidence From Oklahoma) https://www.returntolearntracker.net (Return 2 Learn Tracker) https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/05/briefing/school-closures-covid-learning-loss.html (‘Not Good for Learning’)

On the latest episode of The Report Card, https://www.aei.org/profile/nathaniel-n-malkus/ (Nat) interviews https://www.ilanahorwitz.com (Ilana Horwitz), Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies and Sociology at Tulane, about her new book, https://www.amazon.com/God-Grades-Graduation-Religions-Surprising/dp/0197534147 (God, Grades, and Graduation). Nat and Ilana discuss the impact of religion on student outcomes, why religion helps working class kids get better grades and graduate from college at higher rates, the educational benefits of summer camp, Palo Alto, whether the boys are alright, the academy's understanding of American religious life, why religion helps boys academically more than it helps girls, education in the Soviet Union, why atheists also do better in school, how religion combats despair in working class America, why religious kids might not learn more even though they get better grades, religious girls and undermatching, the trajectory of evangelical Christianity in America, the importance of social capital, the logic of religious restraint, and why Jewish girls do well academically. Also in this episode? The debut of Grade It. Show Notes: https://www.amazon.com/God-Grades-Graduation-Religions-Surprising/dp/0197534147 (God, Grades, and Graduation) https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/15/opinion/religion-school-success.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20220315&instance_id=55813&nl=the-morning&regi_id=172094392&segment_id=85594&te=1&user_id=eb56b01ecc0b0a97242df1e1887a35c5 (I Followed the Lives of 3,290 Teenagers. This Is What I Learned About Religion and Education.) https://liberalarts.tulane.edu/magazine/winter-2022/future-higher-education-needs-embrace-religion (The Future of Higher Education Needs to Embrace Religion) https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00031224221076487 (From Bat Mitzvah to the Bar: Religious Habitus, Self-Concept, and Women’s Educational Outcomes)

It's a challenge for school systems to recruit and retain quality teachers, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. This challenge has spurred a number of creative solutions. One, announced earlier this year, is Tennessee's Teacher Occupation Apprenticeship program, also known as Grow Your Own. Tennessee's Grow Your Own program is based on 65 already existing Grow Your Own programs within the state. Here to discuss Grow Your Own with https://www.aei.org/profile/nathaniel-n-malkus/ (Nat) are https://twitter.com/SchwinnTeach (Penny Schwinn), Tennessee Education Commissioner, and https://twitter.com/nctqkate (Kate Walsh), president of the National Council on Teacher Quality. Show Notes: https://www.tn.gov/education/news/2022/1/13/tennessee-pioneers-permanent-program-to-become-a-teacher-for-free--first-state-to-sponsor-registered-teacher-occupation-apprenticeship-.html (Grow Your Own) https://www.chalkbeat.org/2022/3/9/22967759/teacher-turnover-retention-pandemic-data (Uptick but no exodus: Despite stress, most teachers stay put)

Two upcoming court cases, one a Supreme Court case on affirmative action at Harvard and the other a federal court case on financial aid price-fixing schemes at many of the nation's top colleges, promise to rock American higher education. https://polisci.uccs.edu/joshua-dunn (Josh Dunn), professor of political science at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, and https://www.chronicle.com/author/eric-hoover (Eric Hoover), senior writer at The Chronicle of Higher Education, join https://www.aei.org/profile/nathaniel-n-malkus/ (Nat Malkus) to discuss these cases and their potential implications. Show Notes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Students_for_Fair_Admissions_v._President_and_Fellows_of_Harvard_College (Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College) https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ilnd.411049/gov.uscourts.ilnd.411049.1.0.pdf (568 Presidents Group Lawsuit)

Over the course of the pandemic, masking requirements—particularly school masking requirements—have been a flashpoint issue. So: what is going on in schools? Which school districts require masking and which don’t? And what demographic factors might help explain masking policies? Here to discuss is https://www.aei.org/profile/nathaniel-n-malkus/ (Nat Malkus), with https://www.aei.org/profile/john-bailey/ (John Bailey) as guest host. Show notes: https://www.returntolearntracker.net (The Return to Learn Tracker: Mask Edition)

We've talked a lot on the show about school choice. But it's not often we discuss intra-district choice - choice between schools in the same district. Starting in 2012, Los Angeles' Zones of Choice program creates small local markets with High Schools in neighborhoods throuhgout LA, but leaves traditional attendance-zone boundaries in place. In application, this means that about 30-40% of LAUSD is a Zone of Choice. Here to discuss the success of LA's Zones of Choice program is http://www.cqcampos.com/ (Christopher Campos) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Deasy_(educator)#:~:text=John%20Edward%20Deasy%20(%2F%CB%88d,2018%20to%20June%2015%2C%202020. (John Deasy). Shownotes: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3830628 (The Impact of Neighborhood School Choice: Evidence from Los Angeles' Zones of Choice Program.)

American schooling has been on a bumpy road the past few years. COVID-19 is the obvious issues here, but it's not only that. Students have increasingly faced mental health issues and that preceded the pandemic. All the while, we've seen one polarizing issue after another shaking classrooms across the country. This bumpy road has been eloquently summarized in a new piece by Robert Pondiscio in the lead essay for the March issue of https://www.commentary.org/ (Commentary Magazine), titled: https://www.commentary.org/articles/robert-pondiscio/american-schooling-bleak-broken/ (The unbearable bleakness in American schooling.)

In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to traditional schooling. In response to the, then, relatively unknown threat of COVID-19, Congress sent emergency relief funding to schools. They did so again, sending much more money. Then, they did so again, sending much much more money. These funds, known as the Elementary and Secondary Schooling Emergency Relief funds, or ESSER for short, totaled nearly $200 billion, making it the largest federal expenditure for public education in American history. So, where did these funds go, and for what? Here to discuss is the https://edunomicslab.org/ (Director of Georgetown University's Edunomics Lab), https://edunomicslab.org/about-us/ (Marguerite Roza. ) Show notes: Marguerite's latest Education Next article: https://www.educationnext.org/punishment-for-making-hard-choices-in-crisis-federal-prison-julia-keleher/ (Punishment for Making Hard Choices in a Crisis: Federal Prison)

The COVID-19 pandemic has seemingly touched everything in education policy, and school choice is no exception. Since the start of the pandemic and, particularly in the 2020-2021 academic year, over 1 million students left their traditional pubic school, charter school enrollment surged, and state-after-state either expanded or created a new school choice programs.         The growing enrollment and expansion of these programs over the past year has led some to refer to 2021 as “The Year of School Choice.” So, why was school choice so popular in 2021, and what did its rise look like? Here to discuss is https://www.publiccharters.org/about-us/staff/nina-rees (Nina Rees) and https://edre.uark.edu/people/faculty/uid/pwolf/name/Patrick-Wolf/ (Patrick Wolf. ) Nina is the President and CEO of the https://www.publiccharters.org/ (National Alliance for Public Charter Schools). Previously, Nina served as the first Deputy Under Secretary for Innovation and Improvement at the Department of Education. Patrick Wolf is a Distinguished Professor of Education Policy and the 21st Century Endowed Chair in School Choice at the https://edre.uark.edu/ (University of Arkansas’ Dept. of Education Reform.)

Done well, Career and Technical Education, better known as CTE, provides articled pathways to post-secondary education and high-demand, high-wage careers within specified career clusters. There's certainty a lot to like about CTE, but we still have much to learn about it in terms of its impact on post-K-12 outcomes and, especially, how those outcomes vary among different career clusters that fall under the CTE umbrella. Here to discuss these issues with Nat are Walt Ecton and Shaun Dougherty. Show notes: Link to Walt and Shaun's report, titled: https://edworkingpapers.com/sites/default/files/ai21-492.pdf (Heterogeneity in High School Career and Technical Education Outcomes).

To put it lightly, 2021 has been an eventful year in education. From heated school board meetings over class curriculum to fierce (and currently ongoing) debates regarding mask and vaccine mandates in schools, we’ve certainly had no shortage of education headlines over the past year. For https://www.aei.org/tag/the-report-card-podcast/ (The Report Card with Nat Malkus)' last episode of 2021, Nat looked back at these highlights and discussed 2021's biggest stories in education, what stories didn't get that much attention, and what 2022 has in store for us. Of course, who better to discuss education’s biggest stories in 2021 than those who wrote about them? On this episode, we are joined by three talented reporters, https://www.nytimes.com/by/erica-l-green (Erica Green), https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/laura-meckler/ (Laura Meckler), and https://www.edweek.org/by/eesha-pendharkar (Eesha Pendharkar.)

Every year, it seems, national and local press talk a lot about the "teacher shortage," and the reports are often accompanied with words like "emergency" and "crisis." The frequency of these reports might garner skepticism by some but, this year, talks around the teacher shortage are different. After nearly two years of COVID-19, and with the labor markets currently in flux, could it be that reports around the teacher shortage this year are different than before? Here to discuss is Dan Goldhaber and Gema Zamarro. Gema is a Professor in Education Reform and Economics at the University of Arkansas and the author of a recent report, titled: https://www.slu.edu/research/sinquefield-center-for-applied-economic-research/teacher-turnover-intentions-during-covid-fuchsman.pdf (Understanding how COVID-19 has Changed Teachers’ Chances of Remaining in the Classroom.) Dan is the Director of the Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data (CALDER) in Education Research at the American Institutes for Research and the author of a new report on school district staffing, titled: https://www.cedr.us/_files/ugd/1394b9_7709c1ab926247469c2aa9c076b977bc.pdf (School District Staffing Challenges in a Rapidly Recovering Economy).

Increasingly, political intolerance and polarization is infiltrating college campuses. The impact of these occurrences are growing in prevalence and, to some, are perverting the original purpose of the university: the pursuit of truth. On this episode of The Report Card with Nat Malkus, Pano Kanelos , a founding trustee of the University of Austin, joins the podcast to discuss.

College is expensive. Despite this, every year, millions of students enroll in college. For many, this decision is primarily based on the expectation that they will receive a positive positive return on their investment. Given this logic, it’d be easy to think that the choice of whether to attend college is the most important predictor of ones’ financial future. But, what if that logic is flawed? What if, instead, which college, and which degree in that college, is actually more important to financial success than the decision to attend college at all? On this episode of The Report Card with Nat Malkus, Preston Cooper and Carlo Salerno to join Nat to answer this question and more.

School choice is one of the most controversial issues in education, and it has been for some time. Since the 1990s, support for private school choice has become increasingly politicized – with Republicans making it central to their campaign and Democrats largely in opposition. Despite this, Republicans have approached school choice legislation in a bipartisan fashion. But, does school choice legislation need to be bipartisan, and should it? On this episode of The Report Card with Nat Malkus, Jay Greene discusses the legislative record of school choice legislation, its meaning, and how legislators can and should approach school choice legislation.

Every year, there are a fair few awards and honors handed out in the ed policy space, but none carry the same prestige or repute as the https://yidanprize.org/ (Yidan Prize). On this episode of https://www.aei.org/tag/the-report-card-podcast/ (The Report Card) with https://www.aei.org/profile/nathaniel-n-malkus/ (Nat Malkus), https://yidanprize.org/global-community/laureates/eric-a-hanushek/ (Rick Hanushek), winner of the 2021 Yidan Prize, discusses his past and future research and imparts some words of wisdom for young education researchers.

Americans have long viewed education as something that primarily happens in schools, and for good reason; since the introduction of the common school, most formal education has taken place in schools. But that all changed when the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered school buildings in March 2020, forcing the locus of education to switch from the classroom to the home. So, how has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted homeschooling? On this episode of The Report Card with Nat Malkus, Kerry McDonald discusses the homeschooling movement, its rise during the COVID-19 pandemic, and her book, Unschooling: Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom.

The school grounds have been the site of many of America’s most contentious debates, and, after the tumultuous year we've had, it’d be easy to think that Americans are more divided than ever on education issues. But are Americans as divided as they seem? On this episode of The Report Card with https://www.aei.org/profile/nathaniel-n-malkus/ (Nat Malkus), https://www.aei.org/profile/daniel-a-cox/ (Dan Cox) and Nat discuss their new report on American public opinion about COVID-19 mitigation, race, and religion in the classroom. Read Nat and Dan’s report: https://www.aei.org/research-products/report/controversy-and-consensus-perspectives-on-race-religion-and-covid-19-in-public-schools/ (Controversy and consensus: Perspectives on race, religion, and COVID-19 in public schools).

State assessments from this past spring are slowly coming out and, so far, they’ve all painted a similar picture: students are far behind where they should be in reading and math, and some student groups are further behind than others. On this episode of The Report Card with https://www.aei.org/profile/nathaniel-n-malkus/ (Nat Malkus), https://polisci.osu.edu/people/kogan.18 (Dr. Vlad Kogan) and http://glenn.osu.edu/faculty/glenn-faculty/Lavertu/ (Dr. Stéphane Lavertu) discuss their recent report on Ohio student test scores. Read Dr. Kogan and Dr. Lavertu's report, http://glenn.osu.edu/educational-governance/reports/reports-attributes/210828_KL_OST_Final.pdf (How the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Student Learning In Ohio: Analysis of Spring 2021 Ohio State Tests.)

As students once again head back to school amid increasing Covid cases and hospilizations, can states and districts legally require eligible students and staff to receive the Covid-19 vaccine? Should they? https://www.law.georgetown.edu/faculty/lawrence-o-gostin/ (Lawrence Gostin), the Linda D. & Timothy J. O’Neill Professor of Global Health Law at the Georgetown University Law Center and the director of the WHO Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law, weighs in on this episode of The Report Card with https://www.aei.org/profile/nathaniel-n-malkus/ (Nat Malkus).