Joanne Jacobs
Apprenticeships fail to launch in the U.S.
Ninety-two percent of Americans like the idea of apprenticeships, according to a recent American Staffing Association survey, and 62...
top of page
Joanne Jacobs
- Jan 30
- 2 min
Psych out: Why are we teaching kids to be hopeless and helpless?
"Anti-racists" are demoralizing black students, write Julian Adorney and Jake Mackey on Quillette. Teenage depression and suicide rates...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jan 29
- 2 min
'For All Mankind' celebrates courage, competence, resilience
I'm a fan of the Apple+ series For All Mankind, which imagines an alternative reality in which the Soviet Union reaches the moon first,...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jan 28
- 2 min
More than ever, college applicants are writing about race
Writing about race is more popular than ever for black, Hispanic and indigenous college applicants, writes Bernard Mokam in the New York...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jan 27
- 3 min
Portland's fentanyl crisis is killing children
Children are living and dying in Portland's homeless camps, writes Naomi Schaefer Riley in City Journal. Child-welfare agencies are...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jan 26
- 2 min
The shelves tilt left: School libraries have no McWhorter, but lots of Kendi
For all the talk about school libraries under pressure to "ban books," the real issue is lack of balance, argues James Fishback in The...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jan 25
- 2 min
College students aren't all that smart: IQ average falls to 102
The average college student has average intelligence, concludes a meta-analysis by Canadian researchers, writes Ross Pomeroy on Big...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jan 24
- 2 min
'No excuses' school guru passes on: Will excellence survive?
Linda Brown, who trained hundreds of charter leaders as leader of (Building Excellent Schools (ES), has died at the age of 81. Many of...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jan 24
- 3 min
Teachers are fed up with student misbehavior, classroom chaos
The "new normal" of student behavior -- a toxic mix of disrespect, disruption, violence and apathy -- is driving teachers to despair,...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jan 23
- 2 min
Cash for class: Ohio may pay students to show up at school
Ohio may pay students to show up at school, reports Laura A. Bischoff in the Columbus Dispatch. Under the proposed pilot program,...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jan 22
- 2 min
Black parents want choices, but Chicago plans to limit options
Black parents are the most likely to choose charter, selective enrollment or magnet schools in Chicago, reports Sarah Karp for WBEZ. She...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jan 22
- 2 min
Union-backed group claims choice is 'rooted in racism'
The union-backed Partnership for the Future of Learning has launched an anti-choice campaign charging that "voucher programs" are "deeply...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jan 21
- 2 min
A professor writes: What I really think about DEI
James Hankins, a Harvard history professor, posts an honest diversity statement addressed to "dear members of Harvard's Faceless...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jan 20
- 2 min
Does preschool help kids -- or harm them?
Expanding free preschool is a progressive priority. Early experiments in the 1960s and 1970s -- Perry Preschool program and the...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jan 19
- 1 min
Success Academy charters are #1 in New York in math, #3 in reading
Success Academy charter students are the best in New York state in math, third best in English Language Arts (ELA) among schools with 95+...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jan 19
- 2 min
Fix 'em, don't nix 'em: Tests show what's working and what's not
The Zeitgeist, it is a changing. First, the New York Times ran David Leonhardt's defense of college admissions tests as a way to...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jan 18
- 2 min
The Finnish miracle is finished, but why?
Finland! Finland! Finland! Twenty years ago, Finland's top-of-the-world PISA scores made it "the most widely celebrated and imitated...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jan 17
- 2 min
Beyond decoding: Teaching knowledge, vocabulary builds comprehension
In Portage, Michigan, fourth graders are reading about hurricanes -- including words such as "atmosphere" -- in their English Language...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jan 16
- 2 min
Do teachers learn how to teach reading? 19 states are 'weak' or worse
There will be no reading "miracles" without effective teachers, warns the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) in a new report....
Joanne Jacobs
- Jan 16
- 2 min
Uncredentialed teachers do as well as normally trained teachers
"Emergency" teachers hired during the pandemic seem to have been just as effective as credentialed teachers with similar experience,...
bottom of page