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'Like a Surgeon'
Teachers in Houston's turnaround schools will be treated like surgeons, pledges Superintendent Mike Miles.

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 31, 20231 min read
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Houston school plan: No disruptive kids in class -- and no librarians
Teachers will earn more and have "apprentices" and aides to handle mundane chores. They'll use scripted curricula instead of spending...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 31, 20232 min read
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Teaching fragility: 1/5 of undergrads are 'disabled'
Colleges are disabling students, teaching them that they need not show up in class, complete assignments on time or give an oral...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 30, 20232 min read
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Autism is a disability -- not a 'natural difference to be celebrated'
Autism rates keep climbing -- nearly 3 percent, of all eight-year-olds in the latest estimates -- yet there's no sense of crisis, writes...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 29, 20233 min read
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U.S. schools devalue academics, celebrate failure
Are you excessively cheerful? Did you turn your frown upside down and now it's stuck that way? David Steiner will remove your...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 28, 20233 min read
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Traumatizing math students
There's no evidence that "trauma-deformed pedagogy" (oops, "informed") helps students learn more, writes Max Eden, an American Enterprise...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 27, 20233 min read
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What works in teaching English (discussion) may not work in teaching math
The most effective use of class time depends on the subject, concludes a study conducted in high-poverty English high schools, reports...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 26, 20231 min read
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Trouble with teachers: Why there's no post-Covid rebound
A crisis in classroom teaching quality is forcing school systems to "abandon once-ambitious student recovery plans," concludes a report...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 26, 20232 min read
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Focus on who gets out of poverty, not who gets into Harvard
Obsessing over who gets into elite colleges and universities is an odd preoccupation for progressives, argues Francisco Toro on...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 25, 20232 min read
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Very rich lacrosse-playing 'legacies' have an Ivy edge
The very rich are different: They can get their kids into ultra-selective universities. Upper-middle-class won't do it. And it helps -- a...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 25, 20233 min read
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Black history in Florida: 'Strong, valuable people'
Alex Haley's Roots, which traced his ancestors back to Africa, was a very big deal when it was shown on TV in 1977. I was surprised to...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 24, 20232 min read
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CA schools chief ejected from board meeting on parents' rights
Parents should be told if their child is involved in violence at school, expresses suicidal thoughts or identifies as transgender, a...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 23, 20232 min read
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Malice: STEM students mock trans survey
Asked their gender, race and disability status, a surprising number of engineering and computer science students identify as military...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 22, 20233 min read
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Don't tell girls they can't do calculus
Calculus was challenging and empowering, writes Emily Hoeven in the San Francisco Chronicle, who'd thought she "wasn't a math person."...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 21, 20231 min read
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You want equity? Teach more -- not less
The foolish idea that teaching kids less math will advance "equity" has spread from California, which has adopted watered-down guidelines...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 21, 20232 min read
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The path to nursing starts in 9th grade
Girls from lower-income families all want to be nurses, the community college dean told me. Few make it. They fail the science and math...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 20, 20231 min read
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Class of '23 has high hopes -- $84,855 -- for post-college pay
Gen Z college students are clueless about the workforce, according to a survey conducted in March, writes Jaime Dunaway-Seale for Real...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 20, 20232 min read
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$1.7 trillion in college debt is 'mostly unrepayable'
Even if President Biden is able to figure some student loans, most of the $1.7 trillion in college debt will not be repaid -- ever, write...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 19, 20231 min read
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Who do you trust? Not higher ed or public schools -- or Congress
Americans' confidence in higher education has fallen sharply, according to a new Gallup poll, reports Hechinger's Jill Barshay. Yet most...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 19, 20231 min read
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Chaos: I tried to teach for America, and I failed
"Too many teachers mistake the generally sound advice to not provide a stand off with a student during class with "don't assert authority...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 18, 20233 min read
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