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Senior editor for investigations

Sarah Butrymowicz

Sarah Butrymowicz is senior editor for investigations. For her first four years at The Hechinger Report, she was a staff writer, covering k-12 education, traveling the country and developing an affinity for rural America. She then fell in love with spreadsheets and statistics and served as data editor for two years. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, as well as on Time.com and NBCNews.com. She was the winner of the 2012 New York Press Club’s Nellie Bly Cub Reporter Award. Before receiving a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University and an M.S. from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, she attended public schools in Connecticut, where she had a tendency to go overboard on school projects. Her family still talks about her sixth grade haunted house project in hushed, reverent tones.

Recent Stories

Short on financial knowledge, some school districts get bad deals on bonds

Districts can fall prey to financial firms that put their own interests first

Districts in Debt

by  Sarah Butrymowicz  and  Nichole Dobo  – April 22, 2019

How rising teacher pension costs hurt school districts

States try to rescue their pension systems from bankruptcy, leaving less money for classrooms and teacher pay

Districts in Debt

by  Sarah Butrymowicz  – April 22, 2019

Jessica Deng, 21, teaches a math class at Bahr El Naam Primary School, an all-girls school in Kakuma Refugee camp. Deng, a refugee herself, says she serves as a role model for her female students.

Refugee girls want to improve the world. Will we let them do so?

Although cultural tides are shifting, a lack of resources and opportunities makes it hard for girls to reach their potential

Immigration

by  Sarah Butrymowicz  – January 7, 2019

Glenda Martin of Fort Dodge borrowed $23,000. She said that she supported Iowa’s 2,100-hour requirement in theory but that in practice, many of those hours were wasted.

Tangled up in debt

Beauty schools profit while their students find the promise of a lucrative career elusive

Higher Education

by  Sarah Butrymowicz  and  Meredith Kolodner  – December 26, 2018

“Tired of fighting that fight”: School districts’ uphill battle to get good deals on ed tech

Would price transparency keep districts from spending more than they have to?

K-12

by  Sarah Butrymowicz  and  Tara García Mathewson  – March 26, 2018

Morgane Le Bris, principal of École Mur de Bretagne juggles a class of 27 students and two different grade levels. She wishes she had more money to hire teachers to reduce class size.

This country spends billions on private schools — and has a terrible learning gap between poor and wealthy

In practice, most low-income students can only pick between their local public schools, which many say are under-resourced, and cheaper private schools, which face their own budget challenges.

K-12

by  Sarah Butrymowicz  – March 1, 2018

Vibyskolan, a small, nonprofit free school that serves kindergarten through ninth grade, is located in a wealthy area just north of Stockholm, where free schools are particularly popular.

Betsy DeVos’ school choice ideas are a reality in Sweden, where student performance has suffered

Critics say loose accountability is a problem

K-12

by  Sarah Butrymowicz  – February 28, 2018

Children play outside during recess at Hokitika Primary School. Last year, the school lost 10 students to a nearby, more affluent school.

What would actually happen if we gave all parents the chance to pick their children’s schools?

New Zealand’s history of school choice offers some lessons

K-12

by  Sarah Butrymowicz  – February 20, 2018

Peter O'Halloran checks supplies at his job. O'Halloran works full-time at a nonprofit in Philadelphia.

The ‘forgotten’ part of special education that could lead to better outcomes for students

Many former special education students struggle to find good-paying jobs, and high schools are partly to blame

High School Reform

by  Sarah Butrymowicz  and  Jackie Mader  – December 16, 2017

A special education student at South Hills High School takes an online quiz about RNA. The district’s reforms to special education have included making sure students use the same textbooks as their general education peers.

How one district solved its special education dropout problem

Efforts to remove the stigma for students with disabilities have paid off

High School Reform

by  Sarah Butrymowicz  – November 18, 2017

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