Join the fun that can only happen every 17 years. The cicadas are coming, and WNYC is inviting armchair scientists, DIY makers and science teachers to help predict the emergence of cicadas by building homemade sensors and sharing your observations.

WNYC’s Brian Lehrer moderated a forum on schools in Newark. Hear the next-day analysis of the conversation which touched on charter schools, private money, and teacher contracts. The themes — and the emotion — will sound very familiar to those watching the New York City school system.

Former Schools Chancellor Joel Klein told NPR his new education company is focused solely on developing top-notch materials in math, science and English language arts. “Our commitment,” Klein said, “is education only. We have no subsidiary agenda.” That said, parent company News Corp. is seeking revenue to buttress other parts of its conglomerate.

School officials got overall high marks from the City Council for their response to Sandy. They said additional school repairs and long-term fixes can’t happen without federal disaster relief funds.

Bus workers who were a part of the Local 1181 union filled the school buses with gas and got them back on the road Wednesday after their union suspended a bus strike that, to many of them, bore no results or real guarantee of the job protection they sought.

ICYMI: Three principals joined WNYC’s Brian Lehrer for a wide-ranging conversation about how they managed their schools and how big changes like Common Core and teacher evaluations affected them. Take a listen and share your thoughts.

The Nobel-Prize-winning economist who has studied the effects of early childhood education for decades weighs in on President Obama’s proposal to expand early education for children ages 0-5 years. And the White House released its fact sheet on the proposal.

Two experts of how children learn science have endorsed the proposed changes in K-12 science standards, and they are urging scientists to push for their adoption by state school systems, including New York’s.

Students at P.S. 380 in Brooklyn hosted this year’s celebration of award-winning anti-bullying and tolerance programs in about two dozen schools around the city.

The same day the city unveiled a web-based college assistance site, two experts on access to higher education explore some of the issues low-income and first-generation college students face. It’s one thing to get into college; it’s another to pay for it or make it to graduation.