Joanne Jacobs
Darning socks, shorthand, algebra
Selective colleges should stop expecting top students to take calculus, argues Scott White in Forbes. I was with him that far. My...
top of page
Joanne Jacobs
- 6 days ago
- 2 min
Timed tests are misleading: Success is a marathon, not a sprint
The new digital SAT will take two hours, instead of three, and will give students more time to answer each question. That's a much better...
Joanne Jacobs
- Sep 17
- 2 min
Competency counts: No lectures, no mandatory classes, lots of tests
"Competency-based education," which assesses students on skills rather than seat time, is finally becoming a reality for vocational...
Joanne Jacobs
- Sep 16
- 1 min
Yale changes admissions, avoids bias lawsuit
Elite colleges have "rolled out new application questions this fall to provide students with opportunities to discuss their racial...
Joanne Jacobs
- Sep 15
- 2 min
Back to 'normal' isn't enough: The Covid generation is at risk
It's time to bring back bipartisan education reform writes Fordham's Michael Petrilli. He's promoting A Generation at Risk, a "call to...
Joanne Jacobs
- Sep 14
- 2 min
KIPP schools are game changers
KIPP charters are game changers, concludes a new Mathematica study. Compared to similar students who applied to KIPP but lost the...
Joanne Jacobs
- Sep 11
- 2 min
Half of community college students meet career goals
Sixty percent of former community college students, surveyed 10 years later, said they enrolled primarily for career or personal reasons,...
Joanne Jacobs
- Sep 11
- 2 min
College is a gamble: Will you graduate? In what major? Owing how much?
Americans have soured on the value of a college education, writes Paul Tough in the New York Times Magazine. Ten years ago, 86 percent of...
Joanne Jacobs
- Sep 6
- 2 min
Math disaster in college: Would-be STEM majors can't add 1/2 + 1/3
After a year of remote algebra, Diego Fonseca struggled with advanced algebra. Despite a week at George Mason University's Math Boot...
Joanne Jacobs
- Sep 5
- 2 min
No tests, inflated grades and now AI is writing admissions essays (instead of Mom)
Colleges are trying to figure out whether to ban chatbots or see AI as a way to level the playing field for students who don't have Mom...
Joanne Jacobs
- Aug 31
- 1 min
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
- 1 min
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 24
- 2 min
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 20
- 2 min
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 19
- 2 min
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 16
- 1 min
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 15
- 2 min
Start college in 9th grade, says community college chancellor
All California high school students should be enrolled in community college courses, by default, starting in ninth grade, says Sonya...
Joanne Jacobs
- Aug 15
- 1 min
UK blames lenient pandemic grading for soaring college dropout rate
Earning A-levels was easier for British students during the pandemic. Passing college classes is harder. Worried by a 30 percent college...
Joanne Jacobs
- Aug 3
- 1 min
Who wants to work?
A college diploma doesn't signify academic training or job readiness any more, writes Mitch Daniels, former president of Purdue and...
Joanne Jacobs
- Aug 3
- 2 min
How to fix higher ed: Make public college free
"Higher education is deeply screwed up," writes William Deresiewicz on Persuasion. The first step to fixing it, he argues, would be to...
bottom of page