It was Common Core week at the Idaho Statehouse.

More than 5 ½ hours of discussion in the House Education Committee. No votes ¬— at least not yet.

In this week’s “Extra Credit” podcast, Clark Corbin and Kevin Richert recap two days of contentious hearings, and talk about what to expect next.

Also this week: A historic expulsion vote on the House floor, and a look at a new accountability reporting project.

Check back next week for another “Extra Credit.”

The 2020 Legislature is off and running.

Gov. Brad Little has a plan to spend $4 billion, and his proposals will affect kids and teachers.

The House Education Committee is getting ready for a showdown over Common Core.

And "Extra Credit" cohosts Kevin Richert and Clark Corbin break down the busy first week.

Check back next Friday for the next "Extra Credit" podcast.

What will the 2020 legislative session mean for Idaho's students and parents?

We'll have a few more answers Monday, when the Legislature opens for business. But in this week's "Extra Credit" podcast, Kevin Richert and Clark Corbin talk about the issues that could make for a contentious session.

In this year's final episode of "Extra Credit," we look back, and look ahead.

We review the big stories in education politics and education policy, including Gov. Brad Little's K-12 task force, the meltdown over rules that marked the end of the 2019 legislative session, and the debate over campus diversity and inclusion programs. These big issues, and others, will mark the 2020 session, which begins Jan. 6.

Come back in January for the next "Extra Credit" podcast.

This week, Extra Credit co-host Kevin Richert offers a behind-the-scenes preview of his enterprising new literacy project. Richert explains how he spent the summer and fall traveling across Idaho, meeting with educators, administrators and parents to discuss what's working — and what's not working — when it comes to Idaho's $26 million per year literacy initiative. The series debuts Dec. 16 at www.idahoednews.org.

The 2020 legislative session is still a month away, but two prominent lawmakers announced their departure this week. First, Senate Eduction Committee Chairman Dean Mortimer announced he will not seek re-election in 2020. Then, House Minority Leader Mat Erpelding resigned from the Legislature to take another job, meaning he will not serve in the 2020 session at all.

Idaho Education News reporter Sami Edge and Idaho Statesman reporter Nicole Foy join the podcast this week to introduce their Latino Listening Project. Throughout 2019 and 2020, Edge and Foy will travel across Idaho, meeting with students, teachers and parents — especially Latino families and Spanish speakers — to look at Latino student achievement and learn what is working and what isn't.

This week's episode is devoted entirely to to the "Our Kids, Idaho's Future" education task force. Task force co-chairs Debbie Critchfield and Bill Gilbert and Gov. Brad Little's education advisor Greg Wilson join the show to answer all of our task force questions.

This week we break down results of Tuesday's school elections, take a closer look at the cost of supplemental levies and discuss the impact of Republican legislators abstaining and voting against task force recommendations.

Two new sets of scores came out this week, giving us insight into how Idaho students performed on the ACT and the National Assessment Of Educational Progress, or NAEP. We'll explain where Idaho stands, what the scores mean and what the reaction looked like. Plus, get caught up on this week's top headlines.