July - 2023

Joanne Jacobs

Jul 31, 20231 min read

'Like a Surgeon'

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

1 comment

Houston school plan: No disruptive kids in class -- and no librarians

Joanne Jacobs

Jul 31, 20232 min read

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...

6 comments

Teaching fragility: 1/5 of undergrads are 'disabled'

Joanne Jacobs

Jul 30, 20232 min read

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...

10 comments

Autism is a disability -- not a 'natural difference to be celebrated'

Joanne Jacobs

Jul 29, 20233 min read

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...

1 comment

U.S. schools devalue academics, celebrate failure

Joanne Jacobs

Jul 28, 20233 min read

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...

0 comments

Joanne Jacobs

Jul 27, 20233 min read

Traumatizing math students

There's no evidence that "trauma-deformed pedagogy" (oops, "informed") helps students learn more, writes Max Eden, an American Enterprise...

12 comments

What works in teaching English (discussion) may not work in teaching math

Joanne Jacobs

Jul 26, 20231 min read

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...

4 comments

Trouble with teachers: Why there's no post-Covid rebound

Joanne Jacobs

Jul 26, 20232 min read

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...

23 comments

Focus on who gets out of poverty, not who gets into Harvard

Joanne Jacobs

Jul 25, 20232 min read

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...

7 comments

Very rich lacrosse-playing 'legacies' have an Ivy edge

Joanne Jacobs

Jul 25, 20233 min read

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...

1 comment

Black history in Florida: 'Strong, valuable people'

Joanne Jacobs

Jul 24, 20232 min read

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...

18 comments

CA schools chief ejected from board meeting on parents' rights

Joanne Jacobs

Jul 23, 20232 min read

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...

0 comments

Joanne Jacobs

Jul 22, 20233 min read

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...

5 comments

Joanne Jacobs

Jul 21, 20231 min read

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."...

4 comments

Joanne Jacobs

Jul 21, 20232 min read

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...

4 comments

Joanne Jacobs

Jul 20, 20231 min read

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...

5 comments

Class of '23 has high hopes -- $84,855 -- for post-college pay

Joanne Jacobs

Jul 20, 20232 min read

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...

3 comments

$1.7 trillion in college debt is 'mostly unrepayable'

Joanne Jacobs

Jul 19, 20231 min read

$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...

14 comments

Who do you trust? Not higher ed or public schools -- or Congress

Joanne Jacobs

Jul 19, 20231 min read

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...

1 comment

Chaos: I tried to teach for America, and I failed

Joanne Jacobs

Jul 18, 20233 min read

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...

3 comments