Publications

Ideas matter. In addition to our work with clients, Bellwether Education Partners generates and gathers ideas and policy solutions, analyzes ongoing reform efforts, and writes about and discusses education and education reform. We believe that the work we do to improve education for all students benefits from thought leadership, analysis, and thoughtful discourse around emerging ideas, in order to help challenge leaders and leading organizations to think differently and improve, to coordinate efforts where possible, to inform policymakers and improve the political and policy context, and to share successful approaches with the public education field at large.

Authors

Paging Principal Skinner: Evaluating School Leaders

October 21, 2010

Publication

TIME.com -- Effective principals can attract and retain good teachers while poor leadership has the opposite effect.

Charter Schools: The Good Ones Aren’t Flukes

October 14, 2010

Publication

TIME.com -- The best charter schools significantly and consistently outperform the averages, and they have a lot in common with each other in their ethos and operations.

Waiting for Superman: Education Reform Isn’t Easy

October 7, 2010

Publication

TIME.com -- Waiting for ‘Superman’ is a hard-hitting documentary that lays bare many of America’s education problems. But despite all the attention it’s bringing to education, there are still more reasons to bet against reform than for it.

5 Philanthropy Lessons for Mark Zuckerberg

September 30, 2010

Publication

TIME.com -- If the Facebook founder wants his gift to make a real impact, he’d be wise to study up on all the education grantmaking that precedes him. It offers some sobering cautions and some big lessons. Here are the five biggest.

Rating Teachers: The Trouble with Value-Added Data

September 23, 2010

Publication

TIME.com -- What does “value-added” mean, anyway?

Fenty’s Loss in D.C.: A Blow to Education Reform?

September 15, 2010

Publication

TIME.com -- Fenty’s loss to City Council Chairman Vincent Gray leaves in doubt not only the status of Washington’s revolutionary school chancellor, Michelle Rhee, but the national momentum for her brand of ambitious -- and aggressive -- education reform.

What Common Standards for Schools Can and Can’t Do

September 9, 2010

Publication

TIME.com -- Today states, school districts, and in some cases individual schools are allowed to set both their academic standards and the tests to determine whether students are reaching them.

Better Benefits: Reforming Teacher Pensions for a Changing Work Force

August 1, 2010

Publication

Education Sector -- Policymakers are beginning to take note of the fiscal problems in teacher retirement systems. States have recently taken action by raising retirement ages, lowering benefit payments, and reducing cost-of-living adjustments. These are small steps toward shoring up the system to help ensure that it remains sustainable in the future.

How Schools Can Achieve Obama's Lofty Education Goals

May 18, 2010

Publication

U.S. News and World Report -- Finding depressing education news is easy, but three trends offer hope for the future.

21st Century Skills’ Not New but a Worthy Challenge

April 1, 2010

Publication

American Educator -- Dan Willingham and Andrew J. Rotherham examine the challenges to implementing "21st Century Skills" in America's schools. Willingham and Rotherham look at the history of the idea, the research on how students learn, and the obstacles to effectively implementing the "21st Century Skills" approach in American schools.