Welcome to the report card with Nat Malchus, the Education Policy podcast from the American Enterprise Institute.

Historically, many didn't consider Alabama to be at the forefront of education.

But Alabama's pandemic recovery may be among the best in the nation. Perhaps most impressively,

Alabama was the only state whose fourth grade math NAEP scores were higher in 2024 than in 2019. And Alabama reports a chronic absenteeism

rate that's the lowest in the nation and the closest to its pre-pandemic levels of any state.

I think these results may be part of a broader story about how Alabama has changed the way

it thinks about education.

So to better understand what is going on with education in the Yellowhammer State,

I invited Alabama State Superintendent of Education Eric Mackey onto the podcast.

Eric Mackey. Welcome to the report card.

I'm glad to be here. Glad to talk to you about all the good things going on in Alabama and all the good challenges and opportunities we have as well.

So, Eric, you're the Alabama State Superintendent of Education.

I'll call you the state chief because it's just easier.

A lot of people know about this position, but probably don't understand it.

On a day-to-day basis, what does it entail? I mean, you know, what fills your day?

Yeah, well, it entails a lot, and it's a lot of meetings. You know, my job, it does change from

state-state. Different chiefs have different responsibilities. So I have responsibility for K-12 public education, about 725,000 students. And we're really in charge of

everything, from their funding to their accounting to their school buses, but of course the most

important things that what happens, you know, bail to bail during the school day, the academic part.

And that's the part I enjoy the most.

That's the part I wish I spent all my time on.

The truth is, of course, that takes probably, you know, maybe 50% of my time on a good day.

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