This is Aldeman On Education, a newsletter by me, Chad Aldeman.
Who am I?
I have dedicated my career to improving K-12 education, working at the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University, Bellwether Education, and the U.S. Department of Education during the Obama Administration. I’ve published reports on K-12 and higher education accountability systems; school choice; and teacher preparation, teacher evaluations, and teacher compensation. I also served as the founding editor for TeacherPensions.org. My work has run in the Washington Post, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal.
I consider myself an Iowa native and hold a bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa (go Hawks!) and a master’s of public policy degree from the College of William and Mary. I now live with my wife and two kids in Fairfax, Virginia.
What am I going to write about?
Lots of stuff! I’m interested in school finance, student enrollments, and teacher compensation. I pay close attention to the teacher labor market, so I’ll be writing about teacher supply, demand, and shortages.
Right now, I’m particularly concerned about how far behind kids are coming out of the pandemic, so I’ll be writing about broader recovery efforts and ways to get kids re-engaged in school and back on track academically.
Broadly speaking, I think schools can be better than they are today. And I think public schools are especially important for low-income and disadvantaged students who depend on them the most. But I’m also an incrementalist at heart, so I try to look for progress one step at a time rather than seeking out one big reform.
Where else can you find my work?
Lots of places! I’m a regular columnist at The 74 Million and a contributor to the EduProgress: Unpacked blog.
I also run a program to help parents support their child’s early reading progress called Read Not Guess.