California…Idaho Facilities, Aldeman’s Caution, Success Sequence, GLSEN Climate, More!

Bellwether’s Lynne Graziano, Kelly Robson, and Juliet Squire go deep on charter school facilities in Idaho. What were the top five teacher pension posts last year? Here they are. Elsewhere, Here’s an old story, this time in Tennessee: State sets unattainable goals in testing contract, contractor agrees to them to get the sale. Hijinks ensue. Afrocentric …

Health Care Costs, Civic Education, McKee Wins, Boser Learns, California Dreamin’, Widespread, More!

Last night we released “Rigged” a new game from Bellwether. Chad Aldeman takes a look at teacher retirement benefits and health care. Phil Burgoyne-Allen on civics education and why it’s about both content and engagement. Rhode Island’s Dan McKee, a champion of charter schools and education innovation, survives a primary challenge. I suspect Mike Petrilli and …

Mead On Japan’s Rental Family Business And Early Ed Implications. Really! Sierra Leickert On First Gen Students, Teacher Turnover, Teacher Pensions, California News, And More!

Sara Mead: When I started reading Elif Batuman’s recent New Yorker piece on Japan’s rental family business, I expected it to be fascinating. What I didn’t expect was that it would offer striking insights on the currentdebate over credentials and compensation for early childhood workers in the United States… Bonnie O’Keefe on co-teaching models for ELL and …

TopSheet! Kang On Immigration, Wagner On Love, Petrilli On Hess, Nathan On Charters, Plus Charter Inequities, LIFO, First Gen Scholarships In OH, Campus Life, More!

Teacher memories via Bellwether.  Good news for everyone freaked about a Trump school choice bill or tax credit plan – or much of Trump’s agenda for that matter. This Comey firing makes meaningful legislation more unlikely. I suspect the results of an anonymous poll of education sector special interests asking if they preferred constitutional crisis …

Congratulations Kati Haycock, Health Care And Schools, Pell Students And College Going, ECE In CT, Martin Goes Global, LIFO Suit Sent Packing, Test Security, More!

You can follow me on Twitter here @arotherham. And you can get Eduwonk in your email box each day by signing up on the right. Earlier this week I took a look at data in K-12 schools for US News. And Bellwether released an analysis of education transportation. (pdf) Quick recap of that event here. Interesting issue because …

Massachusetts Charters On The Ballot, Virginia Transgender Case On The Docket, Child Care, Reading Science, New Jersey LIFO & School Finance, Paul Quinn Goes Field To Farm, The Chiefs On SNS, Turnarounds, Petrilli On Campaign Finance…Headwear, And Raccoons, Adorable But Dangerous!

Sara Mead on child care deserts. Not desserts, deserts. This is not an article about sliced apples. More on SNS below but do not miss Bellwether’s Max and Chad on the issue here.  Do you want the process-oriented argument around administrative authority and the transgender guidance from USDOE? That’s it! The 74 looks at the stakes. In MA …

Whitmire With Russakoff, Great Leaders, California Test Data, Teacher Prep, and Models Amongst Us!

Richard Whitmire talks with Dale Russakof about “The Prize” and the issues the story raises in a RealClearEducation exclusive. Dan Willingham wants better teacher preparation. His argument is fundamentally about scale. How do you design effective teacher preparation programs that pitch at the average – because, by definition, in a four million plus workforce that’s …

California’s Pension Sink Hole Just Got Deeper

*Cross posted from Teacherpensions.org’s blog. California’s pension debt is dizzying. The state’s collective unpaid pension debt is now $198 billion, up from $6.3 billion in 2003.  The California Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) makes up over a third of this debt, $74 billion unfunded. (These numbers look even bigger depending on what discount or interest rates …

Ending California’s Teacher Drought?

California’s water drought has been in the news lately, but the state is also facing a growing shortage of teachers. A new Bellwether report looks at how to strengthen California’s teacher supply–and improve the quality of teacher preparation at the same time.

Odds & Ends, California Charter Schools, Students For Ed Reform, And What The Value Add Data Dump Has In Common With Bombing Iran

CCSA’s Portrait of the Movement is out again about charter schools in CA (pdf).  Noteworthy on form and content. Students for Education Reform is up for a White House Campus Champion of Change award.  You can vote via that link.  Background on them here. From NY Daily News the pro (Hanushek) and the con (Walcott) …