June 16, 2025
Better Boys: The Difference Good Dads Make
The girls cleaned up at my (Brad’s) daughter’s middle school graduation in Virginia this month. Three out of four of the school’s top awards went to girls. A majority of the “President’s Academic Excellence Awards,” an award given to students who maintained an “A” average each semester throughout their middle school career, went to girls. This is par for the course….
June 16, 2025
Accountable for Outcomes: We Need Evidence-Based Funding Models
Key Points Introduction Amid escalating college costs, mounting student debt, and rising college graduate underemployment, students of all backgrounds increasingly question college as a path to economic mobility. This shift has sparked interest in alternatives to college—from high school career and technical education (CTE) programs to short-term adult training courses proposed for Pell Grant funding…
June 16, 2025
The ‘Father Divide’ and What it Means for Our Kids
This Father’s Day, an estimated 72 million greeting cards will zip through the mail, according to Hallmark. Father’s Day ranks a respectable fourth on the list of the highest “card-buying” holidays of the year. But it’s still far behind the next-highest: Mother’s Day. Dads probably shouldn’t take it personally. People tend to feel more sentimental toward their mothers. But while…
June 13, 2025
Good Fathers, Flourishing Kids: The Importance of Fatherhood in Virginia
Children in Virginia are more likely to flourish when their fathers are engaged and/or present. This is one of the conclusions from Good Fathers, Flourishing Kids: The Importance of Fatherhood in Virginia, a new report from an intellectually diverse group of scholars at the University of Virginia, the American Enterprise Institute, the American Institute for Boys and Men,…
June 12, 2025
The Senate’s Higher Education Reforms Are Strong (But Could Be Stronger)
Senate Republicans recently unveiled their suite of higher education reform proposals, part of a broader tax-and-spending bill making its way through Congress. The package is strong: it would impose commonsense limits on federal student loans and create a saner loan repayment system. However, it forgoes obvious changes that would save taxpayers more money and would better hold…
June 12, 2025
Lingering Absence in Public Schools: Tracking Post-Pandemic Chronic Absenteeism into 2024
Key Points Introduction It has been over five years since the US shut down for COVID, and in many ways, the country has moved past the pandemic. For US schools, however, the pandemic’s toll has not passed so quickly. Student academic achievement remains depressed, and chronic absenteeism continues to hover substantially above the pre-pandemic baseline….
June 10, 2025
The Surprising Epilogue to an Infamous Conn Job
In government scandals, some surnames are especially memorable, even decades later. A fugitive financier named Marc Rich (and his partner Pinky Green) were famously pardoned by Bill Clinton in what “reeked of payoff” for contributions to the Clinton Library. Then there’s former Rep. Pat Swindall (R-GA), who was indicted for perjury. The puns write themselves. But nothing…
June 10, 2025
America’s Housing Supply Problem: The Closing of the Suburban Frontier?
Housing prices across much of America have hit historic highs, while less housing is being built. If the U.S. housing stock had expanded at the same rate from 2000-2020 as it did from 1980-2000, there would be 15 million more housing units. This paper analyzes the decline of America’s new housing supply, focusing on large…
June 5, 2025
Measuring the Value of Nondegree Credentials
Event Summary On June 5, AEI’s Mark Schneider, in partnership with the Burning Glass Institute (BGI), hosted an event to discuss the value of nondegree credentials. The first discussion was a conversation between BGI President Matt Sigelman and Dr. Schneider, in which they gave context to the discussion by introducing an upcoming report and website,…
June 5, 2025
More Evidence of How Housing Regulation Is Bad for Housing
The American Dream’s geographic escape hatch is slamming shut. New research reveals that once-affordable sunbelt cities like Phoenix, Dallas, and Miami now mirror the restrictive housing markets of San Francisco and New York. The implications for economic dynamism are profound and worrisome. For decades, America’s housing market operated on a simple safety valve principle: When…