Podcast
The Report Card with Nat Malkus
Hosted by AEI Podcasts · EN
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 improving education and the lives of children more broadly. Each episode lets listeners – policymakers, teachers, and parents –learn relevant information that they can use in their efforts to improve education.
36episodes
Episodes
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Mathematical Flexibility and Teaching Middle School Math (with Jon Star)
Mar 1101:03:37Summary readyMath 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 classes consist of students solving problem after problem, or should math classes also include opportunities for discussion and group work? Should students learn a topic and then move on to the next topic after they have achieved competency, or should teachers strive to teach each topic deeply, giving students many different strategies for solving problems? And if math education in America were dramatically improved, just how good could it be?On this episode of The Report Card, Nat Malkus discusses these questions, and more, with Jon Star. Nat and Jon discuss conceptual understanding and procedural fluency, whether constructivism has a place in the classroom, the value of worked examples, online curricula and the importance of curricular coherence, what mathematical flexibility is and why it matters, whether students can understand problem-solving strategies more or less well, whether math makes students better problem-solvers more generally, Chinese math education, Jon’s experience teaching middle school math and how being a researcher informs his teaching, whether math education research is sufficiently accessible to teachers, how to improve American math education, and how good American math education could be.Jon Star is the Carl H. Pforzheimer, Jr. Professor of Teaching and Learning at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a middle school math teacher.
SummaryLee Bollinger on Universities and the Trump Administration
Feb 2501:21:38Tap to summarizeOver the past year, the Trump administration has rewritten the playbook for how Washington interacts with higher education, especially elite universities.How should universities respond to the Trump administration’s efforts? Have the Trump administration’s actions been legal? And how can universities better serve the American public?On this episode of The Report Card, Nat Malkus discusses these questions and more with Lee Bollinger. Nat and Lee discuss the purpose of large university endowments, the meaning of the Ivy League today, university hiring, whether elite universities should double their undergraduate enrollments, the scholarly temperament, whether there is a tension between serving the public and the research missions of universities, the relationship between Washington and universities in the pre-Trump era, how universities can better convey their value to the American people, and the best evidence in favor of affirmative action.Lee Bollinger is the Seth Low Professor at Columbia University and the author of University: A Reckoning. Previously, he was President of Columbia University and President of the University of Michigan.
Transcribe →The Making of America’s Schools: From Revolution to Civil War (with Johann Neem)
Feb 1101:13:08Tap to summarizeTo 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 system we have today and how our education system has shaped America.On this episode, Nat Malkus and Johann Neem cover the period between the American Revolution and the Civil War. Nat and Johann discuss civics education in early America, why some educators cared so much about imagination and self-culture, Horace Mann, pushback against education reformers, the difficulties of schooling in the young republic, the spread of the common schools movement, and more.Johann Neem is Professor of History at Western Washington University, editor of the Journal of the Early Republic, and the author of Democracy’s Schools: The Rise of Public Education in America.
Transcribe →Mask mandates in schools
Mar 23, 2022Tap to summarizeOver 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 Nat Malkus, with John Bailey as guest host.Show notes:The Return to Learn Tracker: Mask Edition
Transcribe →A new way to reignite the pursuit of truth on campus?
Dec 2, 2021Tap to summarizeIncreasingly, 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.
Transcribe →2021 Yidan Prize winner: Eric Hanushek
Oct 21, 2021Tap to summarizeEvery 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 Yidan Prize.On this episode of The Report Card with Nat Malkus, Rick Hanushek, winner of the 2021 Yidan Prize, discusses his past and future research and imparts some words of wisdom for young education researchers.
Transcribe →How divided are Americans on race, religion, and COVID-19 mitigation in public schools?
Sep 23, 2021Tap to summarizeThe 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 Nat Malkus, 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: Controversy and consensus: Perspectives on race, religion, and COVID-19 in public schools.
Transcribe →Should the Covid-19 vaccine be required for teachers and students?
Aug 26, 2021Tap to summarizeAs 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? 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 Nat Malkus.
Transcribe →Should states ban Critical Race Theory in K-12 schools?
Jul 1, 2021Tap to summarizeHow did Critical Race Theory (CRT)—once relegated to graduate school seminars and academic journals—become one of the most hotly debated K-12 issues, seemingly overnight? What exactly is CRT? Should states be banning it from K-12 classrooms? AEI's Robert Pondiscio and Ian Rowe join Nat Malkus to discuss these questions and more on the latest episode of The Report Card.
Transcribe →The right direction on Title IX (rebroadcast)
Jun 17, 2021Tap to summarizeAs the Biden administration begins the process of rewriting Title IX regulations and undoing many of the changes to made under Secretary Betsy DeVos, host Nat Malkus dusts off a recording of a debate among leading law experts on the Trump-era changes to Title IX, which took place in front of a live audience at AEI in the summer of 2019.
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