May 10, 2021

Edujob: Senior Analyst @bellwethered. Plus Pre-K Impacts, College Essays, What’s Next For Cities?

By Bellwether

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If you are curious about culture and don’t like polarization – support this Kickstarter from Carol Glenn. More here.

I am going to butcher the quote, but Ralph Reed once said something to the effect that he’d rather have a thousand school boards than The White House. Overstated, but you get the point. And school boards are emerging as a flashpoint again.

New analysis of pre-k effects from Boston. It’s being billed in some circles as another ‘flat on academics good on other stuff’ study but there is more to it. Some effect on SAT taking and performance and some interesting gender findings. Maybe socialization is overrated though? After all, what is Dogecoin?

Via Richmond Fed, has the pandemic changed cities, what does that mean for schools?

In my experience when you talk with first gen students they light up a lot more talking about their hopes, dreams, and ideas than giving the trauma porn too many people expect from them, and are oddly attached to (and that too often lapses into a patronizing or dehumanizing ethos, but that’s a different issue). Everyone’s experience is different and, in any event, do not miss this essay from an Uncommon senior, powerful:

…Every time I wrote, and then discarded and then redrafted, I didn’t feel good. It felt as if I were trying to gain pity. I knew what I went through was tough and to overcome those challenges was remarkable, but was that all I had to offer?…

…This box was the clichéd story of a Black kid in America. Mr. Jones said that if he had wanted to go to a P.W.I. — a predominantly white institution — then a sob story would have been more important, but since he wanted to go to a historically Black institution, he could showcase his abilities. He emphasized that students of color have more to offer than the cliché. He said, “The sob story can be truth, but it’s not all said all.” He argued that college is the gateway to experiencing a fresh start and that bringing old baggage with you only limits your growth. He ended up writing about a teacher who had mentored him since the fifth grade…

…Trauma is one of life’s teachers. We are molded by it, and some will choose to write about it urgently, passionately. Yet I would encourage those who feel like their stories were written in tragedy to rethink that, as I did. When you open your mind to all the other things you can offer in life, it becomes liberating. Let’s show college admissions officers what they’re missing out on, not what they already know.

At Bellwether we’re hiring for a senior policy analyst:

Senior Analysts work on anywhere from two to five projects at a time, as members of small teams. While Senior Analysts own the execution of the research and analysis for their various projects, they are accountable to project managers and senior leaders who, in turn, guide their work and invest in their professional development.

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