In 2000, Charles Best started DonorsChoose.org, a website that allows teachers to request needed materials for classroom projects, and “citizen philanthropists” from across the country could fund their requests.

While DonorsChoose has an impact on individual classrooms, the data it produces creates a map of what materials teachers are requesting in every district of the country, which can be used to push for policy reform. In this episode, host Nat Malkus talks to Charles Best about DonorsChoose, the impact it has had, and how data from the ground can lead to better spending decisions and create systemic change.

By 2024, the economy will create 16 million jobs that require more than a high school education but not necessarily a college degree. However, community colleges’ on time graduation rates are under 20%.

In this episode of the Report Card, on the AEI Education Podcast, host Nat Malkus talks to Grace Suh of IBM about an effort that seeks to address this problem. In P-tech schools, students earn a high school diploma and an Associate’s degree tied to the needs of local industry partners who provide workplace experiences.

Earlier this year, the Department of Education proposed new Title IX regulations that roll back Obama-era rules. And they have generated an extraordinary amount of interest: the Department received more than 124,000 public comments on the proposed regulations. While some argue that the regulations provide necessary due process and correct overreach by the Obama administration, others argue that it will make it more difficult for victims to get justice.

In this special episode of The Report Card, on the AEI education podcast, host Nat Malkus brings you a debate that took place live at AEI on Thursday, June 27th. Experts debated the motion: Devos’ Title IX regulations are a step in the right direction, and the audience voted to decide the winner.

In 2011, the nation’s high school graduation rate was 79%. By 2016, it was 84%. But do these increases mean that more students are achieving academically? Flat test scores during this period suggest not.

One of the ways in which schools are helping more students graduate is credit recovery – allowing students to make up a course without repeating the school year. In this episode of The Report Card, on the AEI Education podcast, host Nat Malkus talks to Nick Sproull, Danielle Cox-Jones, and Adam Tyner about the NCAA’s efforts to put some safeguards on credit recovery programs, how to ensure that credit recovery programs do not water down expectations, and pressures that schools face around accountability for their graduation rates.

Career and technical education used to be a “dumping ground” for low-performing students to be trained for dead-end careers. However, CTE is losing its stigma, with subjects such as engineering, healthcare, and computer science joining its fold. The students concentrating in these new CTE subjects score better than traditional CTE students, raising the concern that as CTE evolves, it will leave the students it was meant to help behind.

In this episode of The Report Card, on the AEI Education Podcast, Nat Malkus turns hosting duties over to Chester Finn, and talks to Scott Stump about how CTE has evolved over time, which students are taking classes, and what policy solutions can ensure that CTE is available to all.

Some for-profit colleges have been criticized for high student debt, student recruitment tactics, and lackluster labor outcomes. On the other hand, the for-profit sector is responsible for important innovations in higher education, such as online classes and responding faster to labor market demands.

In this episode of The Report Card – the AEI education podcast – host Nat Malkus brings Andy Rosen to discuss the for-profit sector, criticisms against it, and what it can teach other higher education institutions.