This Friday, Eric Hanushek explains the economic significance of pre-COVID declines in student educational outcomes; Jerome Powell joins Uncommon Knowledge for a discussion on the legacy of the late statesman George P. Shultz; and H.R. McMaster interviews an Iran expert on what might lie ahead for that troubled nation.
Reforming K–12 Education
For Matters of Policy & Politics, Senior Fellow Eric Hanushek joins Distinguished Policy Fellow Bill Whalen to discuss misperceptions in the debate about post-COVID education—starting with the idea that the COVID pandemic was responsible for declines in student achievement. Hanushek explains why education reform remains elusive despite decades of talk and expenditure, the challenge of long-term absenteeism, and lessons to be learned from learning and teaching innovations in Dallas and Mississippi.
This conversation builds on Hanushek’s September 2025 paper, “The Pandemic in Perspective: US Learning Losses in the Twenty-First Century.” This research emphasizes the role of state policy in determining student achievement outcomes and shows how declines in student performance trace back to around 2013. As Hanushek shows, the economic costs of this decline are enormous. Students affected by these learning losses will see lifetime earnings reduced by an estimated 8 percent.
Now, Hanushek has prepared two-page analyses of learning losses in each US state plus the District of Columbia. In these two-pagers, you can see trends in student math and reading outcomes over time, as well as the percentage of students at the below-basic level in these subjects.
The two-pagers show how jurisdictions including Louisiana, DC, and Mississippi have managed to maintain student achievement relatively close to their peak levels since 2003; while states like Delaware, Vermont, and Maryland have seen student achievement in math and reading plunge over the same period. Watch or listen here.
Revitalizing American Institutions
The latest episode of Uncommon Knowledge saw host Peter Robinson welcoming Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to Hoover, where he spoke about the legacy of George P. Shultz as an economist with Hoover Institution Director Condoleezza Rice and Senior Fellow Michael J. Boskin. “As one of the most successful policymakers of his era, George brought the intellectual rigor of an academic to the practical, constrained, messy work of policymaking through four cabinet appointments,” Powell told the audience. The group also spoke of how when meeting with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, Shultz took it upon himself to teach him the basics of market capitalism as Gorbachev slowly unwound the Communist system in the late 1980s. The panel explores how Shultz’s beliefs in free markets, personal integrity, and “trust as the coin of the realm” philosophy shaped his actions, from collective bargaining and desegregation to global diplomacy. Watch or listen here.
International Affairs
For Today’s Battlegrounds, Dr. Ali Ansari, professor of Iranian History and founding director of the Institute of Iranian Studies at the University of St. Andrews, joins Hoover Senior Fellow H.R. McMaster to examine the nature of the Islamic Republic, Western misunderstandings about the regime, and why engagement strategies have repeatedly failed. McMaster and Ansari also discuss the widening gap between the regime’s propagandized image of strength and the vulnerabilities revealed in recent conflicts, including the 12-day Israeli campaign that exposed profound intelligence and air-defense failures. Looking beyond the challenges facing the current Iranian regime, Ansari reflects on Iran’s potential future, from the emergence of new leadership to the enduring resilience of the Iranian people. Watch or listen here.
Hoover Institution News
At the Hoover Institution’s annual fall retreat on October 9 and 10, US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum spoke with Hoover Institution Director Condoleezza Rice about the agenda of the second Trump administration and Burgum’s leadership of the Interior Department. In his discussion with Rice, Burgum said, “It’s time for Americans to think about the country’s untold natural wealth, and not just stress over the national debt.”
He told attendees that a great many things have intrigued him since taking the job in January, but the fact that nobody has ever attempted to account for the untapped economic potential of America’s publicly held land and offshore territories encourages him the most. “What’s the asset side of the balance sheet? I haven’t been able to find it,” Burgum said on October 10. “It doesn’t seem to exist, so we’re trying to put it together.” Read more here.
State and Local Governance
At his Blade of Perseus site, Senior Fellow Victor Davis Hanson reviews the California policy baggage that could weigh on Governor Gavin Newsom’s widely anticipated presidential bid. “California’s astronomical gas prices and taxes remain the highest in the continental US,” says Hanson. “Ditto the state’s trifecta of the highest electricity rates, the costliest home prices, and the fourth-highest home insurance costs. California has the largest unfunded liability debt in the nation, approaching $270 billion.” Hanson also writes that California has the “largest number of people living in poverty,” as well as “the highest food prices in the continental US.” Looking ahead to the next presidential race, Hanson asks, “What, then, will Newsom run on?” Read more here.
Related Commentary