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WVU gives students what they want: Good grades in easy classes
West Virginia University is cutting majors and firing professors to fulfill the utilitarian vision of its president, E. Gordon Gee,...

Joanne Jacobs
Dec 5, 20232 min read
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Practice makes better
How do get to Carnegie Hall? Practice! It's the same for math, writes Holly Korbey on Edutopia. “They are considered dirty words, but...

Joanne Jacobs
Dec 1, 20231 min read
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Anti-racist math: 2 + 2 = whiteness
Apples and oranges featured heavily in my elementary school math curriculum, and yet I knew math was about the numbers, not about the...

Joanne Jacobs
Nov 29, 20232 min read
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Segregation now: Evanston High offers all-black and all-Latino classes
Black students can opt to take all-black classes -- with a black teachers -- in math and writing at Evanston Township High School near...

Joanne Jacobs
Nov 28, 20232 min read
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Texas tracks for equity: 'I didn't know honors existed'
California progressives are eliminating advanced math in middle school in the name of equity. In Texas, equity means expanding access to...

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 5, 20231 min read
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'Data literacy' will widen STEM gaps
I was willing to swear a solemn vow to not major in math or science in college, I told my teacher. All I asked was to get out of trig....

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 5, 20232 min read
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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...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 28, 20231 min read
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Old is new in math teaching: 'You have to explicitly teach content'
Johnny can't calculate -- or order enough pizza for a group of six who each want one-third of a pie. Math proficiency, already low,...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 20, 20232 min read
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Math disaster in college: Would-be STEM majors can't add 1/2 + 1/3
After a year of remote algebra, "Diego" struggled with advanced algebra. Despite a week at George Mason University's Math Boot Camp, the...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 6, 20232 min read
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Students aren't bouncing back in math
Math skills fell during "remote education" and many students aren't bouncing back, reports an education reporting collaborative in a...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 6, 20232 min read
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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
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AI can be a teaching and learning tool -- or a crutch
Bots powered by artificial intelligence are getting smarter and smarter. Will people get dumb and dumber? Rick Hess of the American...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 11, 20233 min read
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'We took care of our kids' -- but they lost a year in reading, math
Juab School District in Utah focused on supporting students emotionally when schools reopened in fall of 2020. “We took care of our...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 7, 20232 min read
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Traumatizing math students
There's no evidence that "trauma-deformed pedagogy" (oops, "informed") helps students learn more, writes Max Eden, an American Enterprise...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 27, 20233 min read
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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...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 26, 20231 min read
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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...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 21, 20232 min read
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$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...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 19, 20231 min read
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'Big ideas' aren't always good ideas
Impatience is the besetting sin of progressive education. Progressives want to skip the boring, old fundamentals -- phonics,...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 14, 20232 min read
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'Data science' closes STEM doors, professors warn
"Data science" classes don't prepare students for college-level math, science or engineering courses, say University of California...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 7, 20231 min read
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Equity! Equity! What about the math?
There's a lot of talk about "equity" in the latest draft of California's proposed math framework. In addition to a guarantee of...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 7, 20232 min read
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