Welcome back to the Friday reading list. If you haven’t already, check out these good reads:

•Andrew Rotherham of TIME Magazine and Eduwonk fame explains why both President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney have shied away from talking about K-12 education this campaign season.

•Edweek’s Sarah Sparks takes a look at the research on Algebra. Are we teaching it too early?

•The Center for American Progress and the American Enterprise Institute have put out a list of recommendations on some of the under-the-radar pieces of the Elementary and Secondary and Education Act (supplement-not-supplant, parent involvement, productivity, and state education agencies.) They’ve been out for a while, but the groups held an event on Capitol Hill this week to help illuminate them.

•Emily Richmond, the Education Writer’s Association’s awesome public editor, explains a new report on the School Improvement Grants, that shows the dollars seem to have made a difference for some schools in California.

•Want the behind-the-scenes numbers on the student-loan rate hike? The New America Foundation’s Ed Money Watch explains it all.