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Our team blogs regularly on a broad range of topics related to education reform and provides a blend of leading-edge perspectives. One of Bellwether’s greatest strengths is that diversity of viewpoint is encouraged among the partner team and throughout the organization. Everyone at Bellwether is committed to dramatic improvements in our public education system, but internally there are different views about how to accomplish that work. As a result, the views expressed in these blogs should be considered to be those of the writers rather than organizational viewpoints of Bellwether or of any organizations or individuals with whom Bellwether works. Likewise, outgoing links do not constitute any type of endorsement of other websites or organizations.

Ahead of the Heard

The Bellwether team blog, Ahead of the Heard, features regular commentary, analysis, and original insights from our staff.

Media: “Four lessons I learned from California’s Hollister prep on closing learning gaps” in EdSource

October 17, 2019
Lauren Schwartze

Earlier this year, I got to visit to Hollister Prep, a public charter school in  California which serves a racially and socioeconomically diverse student population and achieves remarkable results, partly through its use of data-driven instruction. You can read about the lessons from my visit in an op-ed published this week in EdSource: Many schools […]

The post Media: “Four lessons I learned from California’s Hollister prep on closing learning gaps” in EdSource appeared first on Ahead of the Heard.

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Eduwonk

Andrew Rotherham provides education news, analysis, and commentary through his widely read blog, Eduwonk.com. 

Latest Edu-Reads

October 17, 2019
Chad Aldeman

Chicago teachers are out on strike today. The strike is not primarily about pay or benefits, but those issues are certainly lurking in the background.

A new study finds that universal free school lunch had positive benefits for poor and non-poor students. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates its new rules on school lunch eligibility could take away these very same benefits for up to 982,000 students nationwide (h/t Lauren Camera).

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Teacher Pensions

Teacherpensions.org, a project of Bellwether Education Partners, provides high-quality information and analysis to help stakeholders – especially teachers and policymakers – understand the teacher pension issue and the trade-offs among various options for reform.

Is Chicago Teacher Compensation the Highest in the Country?

October 12, 2019
Chad

Earlier this month, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said, "Teachers in Chicago Public Schools are paid some of the highest compensation of any school system in the country." Politifact Illinois rated this claim as "mostly false," but I think they missed a few key elements*. If I were rating it, I'd call Lightfoot's claim "mostly true." Let me explain why.  According to NCTQ, Chicago's starting teacher salary ranks 22nd out of 124 large school districts, and near the top for teachers with more years of experience and higher degrees.

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