Sara Mead

Sara Mead

Board Member

Assistant Superintendent of Early Learning, DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education

As a partner with Bellwether Education Partners, Sara leads Bellwether’s early childhood work across both our policy and strategic advising teams. Since joining Bellwether in 2010, she has written and conducted policy analysis on early childhood education, charter schools, teacher quality, and state and federal education policy issues and has provided strategic advising support to foundations, advocacy organizations, and early childhood operators. Her work has been featured in media outlets including The Washington Post, The New York Times, Slate, and USA Today, and she is a regular contributor to U.S. News & World Report’s Knowledge Bank vertical. Before joining Bellwether, Sara directed the New America Foundation’s Early Education Initiative. She has also worked for Education Sector, the Progressive Policy Institute, and the U.S. Department of Education. From September 2009-July 2017 she served on the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board, which authorizes charter schools in Washington, D.C. She holds a bachelor’s degree in public policy from Vanderbilt University.


Most Recent Posts
5 Key Lessons NACSA Has Learned About Ensuring Excellence
This blog was adapted from this piece, by M. Karega Rausch, Ph.D., published in The74. Ensuring schools are excellent has always been at the center of our work at the...
Statement on US ED’s Decision to Rollback Authorizer Restrictions
NACSA appreciates the United States Department of Education (US ED) rolling back prior efforts to restrict and redefine who is eligible to authorize charter schools. For more than 18 months NACSA...
NACSA’s response to recent NAEP results: Accountability and Innovation
Last year’s NAEP data was released this morning, and overall, it’s sobering. In education, we must improve student outcomes in order to create lifelong opportunities for every child to thrive....