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Research Archive

September 3, 2024

Doing Right by Kids: A Book Event

Material hardship among American children has never been lower. Yet children born to the most disadvantaged parents today are just as likely as they were in the past to become the most disadvantaged adults when they grow up. In a new edited volume, Doing Right Kids: Leveraging Social Capital and Innovation to Increase Opportunity, leading scholars…

September 3, 2024

Event: New Census Data on American Families’ Economic Well-Being

On September 10, the United States Census Bureau will release what is arguably 2024’s most important economic data. We will learn for the first time whether families’ economic well-being improved in 2023: Did wages outpace inflation and deliver real income gains for middle-class families? Did a strong labor market help families escape poverty? Did income…

July 17, 2024

Coming Together on Chronic Absenteeism: Schools’ Top Priority This Year

Event Summary  On July 17, AEI’s Nat Malkus was joined by Education Trust’s Denise Forte and Attendance Works’ Hedy Chang to discuss chronic absenteeism. Dr. Malkus presented chronic absenteeism data from his Return to Learn Tracker, then sat down for a fireside chat with Ms. Forte and Ms. Chang. They noted that chronic absenteeism is…

June 20, 2024

The War on Poverty at 60: Lessons to Inform the Future

Event Summary On June 20, AEI’s Center on Opportunity and Social Mobility convened two panels to discuss the 60th anniversary of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty. The first panel examined poverty measurement. Panelists agreed that the official poverty measure is outdated and should no longer be used by government agencies. David Johnson from…

May 9, 2024

FAFSA Flop: What Is Going On with the 2024–25 Cycle?

Event Summary On May 9, AEI hosted a panel conversation with AEI’s Beth Akers and Michael Brickman, Karen McCarthy of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, and Mark Kantrowitz. As experts in higher education and finance, the group discussed why the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) needed to be simplified, the…

May 2, 2024

Lives Cut Short: A Project to Document Child Maltreatment Fatalities

Every year, at least 2,000 children die of maltreatment. Many of the adults responsible for their deaths were known to child welfare services or law enforcement before the fatal incident occurred. Unfortunately, state governments fail to count many of these deaths or release information that would help determine their causes. Why is this? How can…

May 1, 2024

Getting Higher Education Right

Higher education has a vital role to play when it comes to safeguarding the store of human knowledge, promoting scientific inquiry, and teaching wisdom to the next generation of civic and community leaders. But rising costs, bureaucratic bloat, double standards, and campus sloth have come to plague America’s colleges and erode Americans’ faith in them….

April 22, 2024

The Promise and Peril of Civic Renewal: Richard John Neuhaus, Peter L. Berger, and “To Empower People”

On April 22, AEI and the Ethics & Public Policy Center hosted a discussion on the legacy of Richard John Neuhaus and Peter L. Berger’s 1977 book, To Empower People: From State to Civil Society. The book explored the importance of “mediating institutions” such as family, church, and community to a healthy social fabric. AEI’s…

April 9, 2024

The Case for Curriculum Reform

The education reform movement over the past few decades has focused on standardized testing, accountability, and programs to transform the teacher workforce. During this time, there was surprisingly little conversation about the often slapdash and unchallenging curricula that define many American classrooms. Could curriculum reform be the answer to some of the longest-standing questions in…

March 19, 2024

Getting K–12 Right

Event Summary On March 19, Louisiana State Superintendent Cade Brumley, Nicole Neily of Parents Defending Education, and Derrell Bradford of 50CAN joined AEI’s Frederick M. Hess and Michael Q. McShane to discuss how conservatives can lead in K–12 education and make meaningful progress on addressing contemporary challenges. The conversation drew heavily from Dr. Hess and…