Coming attractions: I’m taking next week off the blog, look for guest posts from a variety of people at Bellwether on different issues and showcasing some work you may not know we do.

Chad Aldeman talks with Ulrich Boser about learning.

A lot of cross pressures on school transportation.

This NEA charter school stunt pretty much speaks for itself. Charters are hardly perfect but it’s ironic that as the sector’s performance improves – and in particular as urban charters continue to turn in overall impressive results – the resistance gets more intense. Pretty much tells you what you need to know. But, the ratcheting up of pressure by the NEA is going to put pressure on the AFT’s leadership to become more strident, too. So it’s not a meaningless development either.

Yawn. Other than the idea of “zombie charters,” which is the best education policy term in a long time (and probably what charter haters secretly feared all along), this side deal stuff in New York is par for the course. It would be newsy if there were not a side deal with anything political having to do with the schools there.

Good attendance strategy: Tell everyone you got the award but then don’t accept it!