Resources for educators
Playground
Working tools from Sure Step Education. Free to use and nothing to sign up for. Everything here runs in your browser, with one exception: Showdown sends your study guide’s text to an AI model to write the questions, and says so before you use it.
CalSTRS · Live tool
When can I retire?
CalSTRS explains your pension with a formula and a page of lookup tables. This puts it in plain English and shows the actual dollar amount at every retirement age, side by side — for teachers and for administrators. Find the year your number jumps.
Open the calculatorCalifornia pay map · Live tool
What am I worth?
Every California school district reports its pay to the state. This puts it on one map: pick your district, set your years, and see what a teacher, principal or superintendent earns there — and everywhere else. Then carry your number into the retirement calculator.
Open the mapCalifornia rent map · Live tool
Can I afford to live where I teach?
How much of a teacher’s paycheck goes to rent, in every California school district. Set your years and your bedrooms, and the map shades each district from comfortable to ouch, using HUD’s Fair Market Rents and the state’s own salary reports.
Open the mapOut-of-pocket tracker · Live tool
My classroom tab
Markers, books, snacks, prizes: tally what you spend on your classroom in a few taps at the checkout line, watch the school year add up, and print a clean list for tax time, with the federal educator deduction explained in plain words. Everything stays on your device.
Open my tabClassroom picker · Live tool
Who’s Up?
Call on anyone, fairly, and with a show. Type in your class and let the machine decide who’s up next, set a draft order, build teams, or call bingo — on a rolling cage, a lottery blower, a slot machine, or a horse race. Names never leave your browser.
Open the machineClassroom game · Live tool
Showdown
Drop in a study guide and get a quiz-show review game: categories, point values, and questions written for you. Review every question, then play it on the projector with teams, a Double Down tile, and a final round. To write the questions, the study guide’s text is sent to an AI model and isn’t stored by us — leave out student names and any other student information.
Build a gameMore tools will land here. Sure Step Education is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by CalSTRS or the State of California; tools on these pages are general educational information, not tax, legal, investment, or individualized retirement advice.