The Report Card with Nat Malkus American Enterprise Institute

On February 14th, 2018, a gunman opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, killing 17 students and staff members. It was the deadliest school shooting in American history. In the following weeks and months, debates raged about what could have prevented the tragedy, and conversations about gun control and mental health policy took center stage.







For Andrew Pollack, father of 18 year old victim Meadow Pollack, and education researcher Max Eden, Parkland was the most avoidable mass shooting in American history. In their book published last year, “Why Meadow Died: The People and Policies that Created the Parkland Shooter and Endanger America’s Students”, they offer their take on how the shooting could have been avoided. Max joins host Nat Malkus to discuss the book and school safety lessons he hopes everyone will learn from Parkland.

A teacher is always on stage, 180 days a year, with a repeat audience. There is a constant need for lesson plans that are high quality, engaging, and aligned to standards. Today, most teachers turn to the internet to fill that need, and they now have a dizzying and growing array of online materials they can access. But shockingly little is known about the quality of those materials.







In this episode, host Nat Malkus talks with Dr. Morgan Polikoff of the University of Southern California about his most recent report. Coauthored with educational consultant Jennifer Dean and published by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, it analyzes online supplemental materials for high school English language arts from three of the most popular supplemental websites. They discuss the report’s goals, findings, and implications for policy.

No charter school network has generated as much controversy as New York City’s Success Academy. Founded in 2006 by Eva Moskowitz, the schools have gained renown for their unprecedented success on standardized tests. At the same time, some critics have forcefully criticized Moskowitz and aspects of the schools’ culture.







In this episode, host Nat Malkus talks to Robert Pondiscio, author of “How the Other Half Learns: Equality, Excellence, and the Battle Over School Choice”. Pondiscio spent a year embedded in a Success Academy school, observing what makes Moskowitz’s model so distinctive. Pondiscio not only offers a fascinating window into Success, but also raises vital political questions surrounding public education and school choice.

From Varsity Blues to debates over charter schools, 2019 was an eventful year in education news. In the last episode of the year, Erica Green, Alyson Klein, and Josh Mitchell reflect with host Nat Malkus on the top education stories of 2019 and look ahead to stories we should pay attention to in 2020.

The practice of vaping—or smoking e-cigarettes—has risen dramatically in recent years among American high school students. And schools are trying to figure out how to stop this troubling trend.







Host Nat Malkus talks to former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb to explore how teen vaping affects students and schools. Substance abuse counselor Mila Vascones-Gatski and Evie Blad, a reporter from Education Week, also join Nat to discuss ways to address the problem.

The idea of free college isn’t new. In 2014, President Obama proposed free community college in his State of the Union Address. Both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders had free college plans in the 2016 election, and 2020 Democratic candidates also have plenty of ideas. However, in 2017, New York was the first state to make all 2 and 4-year public colleges free for families who earn up to $125,000 – with some important caveats.







In this episode, host Nat Malkus talks to Elsa Magee of the New York State Higher Education Services Corporation, and Christopher Barto of LIM College, about New York’s experience implementing free college, how colleges have reacted to the program, trade-offs the state had to make, and implementation lessons that states interested in a similar program can learn.