Joanne Jacobs
After the pandemic, more students are diagnosed with special needs
Special education numbers are up.
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Joanne Jacobs
Aug 211 min
Sprinkling the fairy dust that helps children fly
My visiting eight-month-old granddaughter crawl-flopped past the teething toys to chew on the metal leg of the coffee table. "Try the...
Joanne Jacobs
Jul 22 min
'We are talking 4- and 5-year-olds who are throwing chairs, biting, hitting ... '
Covid toddlers are now in school, and teachers say many are not doing very well, report Claire Cain Miller and Sarah Mervosh in the New...
Joanne Jacobs
May 161 min
Degrees for all: How to make day care more expensive, less available
Requiring day-care workers to earn a college degree would backfire, critics said. It would drive experienced people out of the field,...
Joanne Jacobs
May 61 min
Kids can learn a lot more math -- and have fun -- in kindergarten
Kindergarten math may be too easy, writes Holley Korbey for the Hechinger Report. The focus is on reading. Math expectations are low. In...
Joanne Jacobs
Feb 11 min
Young students are better in phonics, worse in math
"Covid toddlers" -- kids who were two years old in March 2020 -- were more likely to be unprepared for kindergarten in fall 2023 reports...
Joanne Jacobs
Jan 202 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
Nov 12, 20232 min
Tutors for toddlers: Crazy parents will raise crazy kids
"The race to the Ivy League starts early," writes Asia Grace in the New York Post. Affluent parents are hiring tutors for their toddlers...
Joanne Jacobs
Oct 7, 20232 min
Diapers in kindergarten?
Kids are starting kindergarten in diapers and "pull-ups," complain teachers on the subreddit, r/Teachers, writes Megan Quinn on Your...
Joanne Jacobs
Aug 8, 20232 min
Competing for kindergarteners
Kindergarten enrollment has fallen by 17 percent in the last six years in district school in New York City, reports the New York Post. In...
Joanne Jacobs
May 29, 20231 min
Go outside to play -- and learn
Kindergarteners learn outdoors -- including time in the "magical forest" -- for most of the school day at a school in Quebec, reports...
Joanne Jacobs
Apr 15, 20232 min
Desperately seeking kindergarteners in Portland, preschoolers in NYC
Four- and five-year-olds are in short supply in Portland, Oregon, reports Rachel Saslow in Williamette Week. Schools are competing for...
Joanne Jacobs
Dec 18, 20221 min
Group care doesn't lead to behavior problems, say new study
Kids who've spent a lot of time in child care tend to act up years later, studies have shown. But newer research concludes that's not so:...
Joanne Jacobs
Nov 26, 20221 min
Striver parents want toys to 'cram learning into playtime'
For ambitious parents, toys are supposed to "cram learning into playtime," writes Alex Blasdel in The Guardian. "Is it time for a...
Joanne Jacobs
Oct 29, 20222 min
Boy trouble
Boys are struggling in school around the world, not just in the United States, points out Kay Hymowitz in City Journal. Boys have lower...
Joanne Jacobs
Jan 5, 20201 min
School’s Out
From CNN: Jazz great Jack Sheldon, known for his work on “The Merv Griffin Show” and “Schoolhouse Rock!,” has died. He was 88. Sheldon...
Joanne Jacobs
Jul 18, 20182 min
Pre-K’s benefits are ‘overblown’
Universal, free (government-funded) pre-kindergarten is a popular cause, writes Russ Whitehurst, a senior fellow in Brookings’ Center on...
Joanne Jacobs
Jun 6, 20183 min
Does babytalk matter? Word gap wrangle
By the age of three, children growing up in poverty hear 30 million fewer words than the children of educated parents, concluded a study...
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 31, 20182 min
Swedish preschools teach boys to dance, girls to yell
Swedish preschools encourage boys to draw, dance and play in toy kitchens, while girls are taught to shout “No!,” reports Ellen Barry in...
Joanne Jacobs
Feb 26, 20181 min
Help parents help kids before they start school
Education reformers are working hard to “rescue” children who arrive at school without the language skills, knowledge and emotional...
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