top of page


The broke-woke-stroke convergence: Why professors lower standards
College professors are "inflating grades and watering down their courses," write Mark Horowitz, Anthony L. Haynor and Kenneth Kickham in...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 31, 20231 min read
5 comments


Up, up and away: More A's, lower test scores
High school grades went up in all subjects from 2010-2022, reports ACT. Achievement did not. Grade inflation was the highest in math:...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 31, 20231 min read
2 comments


Low-SES Asians are top students: Can 'excellence gap' be closed?
A middle school in a working-class, mostly Hispanic neighborhood in San Jose started teaching algebra after a wave of Vietnamese refugee...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 30, 20232 min read
12 comments


Cheaters prosper: Why graduation rates are meaningless
High schools have been using online credit recovery (OCR) to inflate graduation rates, writes Jeremy Noonan. His former district,...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 29, 20231 min read
4 comments


More students are in 'big, big trouble' in reading, math, and they're not catching up
Students are learning again, but most are not catching up for learning lost during the pandemic, conclude three new reports comparing...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 28, 20232 min read
3 comments


Cover-up in California: State botched remote learning, tried to silence critics
After Oakland schools closed in March, 2020, eight-year-old Cayla J. had two remote classes. Then, according to her mother, the teacher...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 28, 20232 min read
0 comments



Joanne Jacobs
Aug 26, 20230 min read
0 comments


School bans 'only 2 genders' T shirt: There's only 1 acceptable opinion
A 12-year-old boy's free-speech rights to say "there are only two genders" on a T shirt is trumped by classmates' rights to feel...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 25, 20232 min read
14 comments


Death wish: Contempt for parents will destroy public ed
Public schools are trouble. Trust is low. Enrollment is falling. Parents are embracing new alternatives. Is transgender policy the hill...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 25, 20232 min read
13 comments


You may already be a student ! Colleges are admitting students who haven't applied
Doonesbury foresaw the trend 20 years ago: Desperate to counteract falling enrollment, colleges are admitting students who haven't...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 24, 20232 min read
0 comments


'Learning stations' are glitzy busywork: Teachers should teach
"Learning stations" are a waste of time, writes Daniel Buck. Motivated achievers may be able to learn independently, but most students...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 23, 20232 min read
10 comments


NYC will spend billions to cut class sizes: Who'll get the good teachers?
State-mandated cuts in class sizes primarily will benefit New York City students in low-poverty schools, report Alex Zimmerman and Matt...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 22, 20232 min read
4 comments


Homeschooling is so much work
In Hard Lessons from a Veteran Homeschooler, Larissa Phillips talks about the challenges of educating her two children in rural New York....

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 21, 20233 min read
4 comments


DIY schooling leaves home: Microschools, co-ops, hybrids, pods ...
When schools went remote, many parents took charge of their children's education, and learned how to find online and community resources,...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 21, 20232 min read
2 comments


Apprenticeship-to-degree model launches debt-free careers
How do you get a job at Goldman Sachs? In the U.S., it usually takes a degree from an elite college to get in the door. In Britain,...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 20, 20232 min read
1 comment


Colleges ask students to write about identity -- in a constitutional-ish way
Asked by his first-choice college about a challenge he'd overcome, "Frank" wrote about struggling with algebra in ninth grade. He'd...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 19, 20232 min read
5 comments


California pledges $4 billion for 'community schools' -- but do students learn more?
There were high hopes for Akron's I Promise School when it opened in 2018, writes Mike Antonucci on The 74. With lots of extra funding...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 18, 20232 min read
1 comment


Detracking in Shaker Heights: 'Honors' for all, lower expectations
All Shaker Heights students take honors classes -- or classes with an "honors" label. The "enriched" and "advanced" tracks are gone,...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 17, 20232 min read
8 comments


Gen Z teens want practical skills, on-the-job learning
Gen Z teens are very practical, writes Bruno Manno on The 74. In the recent Question the Quo survey, high school students say they want...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 16, 20231 min read
2 comments


Summer jobs boost school success
Working for the summer pays off for teenagers from low-income families, concludes a study of Boston's summer job program. Winning the job...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 16, 20232 min read
0 comments
bottom of page