Latest Edu-Reads

“the decline [in unionization] remains virtually unchanged through Republican and Democratic presidential administrations, dramatic alterations in the composition of Congress and statehouses, and amid the working lives of an entire generation of Americans.” That’s Mike Antonucci on the long-term decline of unionism.

A new research paper from Dongwoo Kim, Cory Koedel, and P. Brett Xiang finds that, “a 1% (of salaries) increase in the annual required pension contribution corresponds to a decrease in total teacher salary expenditures of 0.24%.”

A new Rand study finds that NYC’s Community Schools program boosted student attendance, credit accumulation, graduation rates, and math achievement. However, the program costs roughly $200 million a year, prompting Jennifer Jennings, a professor of sociology at Princeton University, to ask, “The question is really: Did it work better than other things that cost similar amounts of money or with fewer public dollars?”

Are district accountability systems duplicative of state efforts, or are they providing a unique contribution? Denver is about to find out.

LaVonia Abavana, a Camden parent, talks about navigating her school choice options with a special-needs child.

A study by Elaine M. Allensworth and Kallie Clark on graduates of Chicago public high schools found that high school GPAs were much more predictive than ACT scores of the students’ probability of graduating from college.

Three community colleges in Ohio were able to double their three-year graduation rates and increase their transfers to four-year colleges by 50 percent, thanks to an effort to replicate the successful CUNY ASAP program.

How can the NFL diversify its head coaching ranks?

–Guest post by Chad Aldeman 

Latest Edu-Reads

Mike Antonucci asks, if teachers unions are bargaining “for the common good,” what are the elected mayors and school boards on the other side of the table bargaining for?

A new paper finds that, “Social Security is the most equal form of retirement wealth and the most important source for most minority households,” and yet 40 percent of public school employees lack Social Security benefits.

“Just like an unpaid credit card balance that grows over time, the longer states delay paying off [their pension debt], the bigger the debt price tag becomes, consuming an ever-greater share of the finite pool of public dollars available for teachers and students.” Marguerite Roza quantifies the extent of that debt for California, Illinois, Louisiana, South Carolina, Texas, and Vermont.

Julie Squire takes the high ground is glad to welcome Cory Booker back into the charter school tent (where he had been for most of his career!).

Speaking of zingers, Mike Petrilli notes that Montgomery County leaders talk a good game on equity, and yet the district, “doesn’t offer a single extra penny to teachers assigned to the district’s toughest schools — those serving large proportions of kids living in poverty who often come to school with unmet needs and below grade-level proficiency.”

Here’s an interesting report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on household debt and credit. Two big takeaways: At least in the last 15 years, student loan debt delinquency rates are higher and much less volatile than other types of debt:

Two, delinquency rates are tied to age. Per the first graph, that’s largely tied to student loans, but older Americans have the lowest delinquency rates while the youngest adults have much higher rates of default:

 

–Guest post by Chad Aldeman

Weekend Edu-Reads

Hotel California? Mike Antonucci tracks down the laborious process it would take for a California teacher to drop out of their union.

“Centralizing and decentralizing education governance is a popular American pastime.” Jason Weeby on the latest machinations in Chicago.

Bonnie O’Keefe in Governing on state innovations in assessment policy.

Conor Williams goes inside Washington, DC’s pre-k program.

AEI and Third Way map out the common ground on accountability in higher education.

This McKinsey report on robots  the future of work is interesting and has some important implications for equity, politics, and the education sector.

Do Georgia’s K-12 teachers deserve the same retirement choices as their peers in higher ed? I say yes.

–Guest post by Chad Aldeman