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When loneliness was a moral duty: 'My friends were untouchable, masked'
Connection leads to happiness. Covid rules isolated teens. "My friends were untouchable, unreachable, masked."

Joanne Jacobs
May 113 min read
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Following the junk science: How a health crisis became an educational disaster
While millions of European children were in school -- mostly unmasked -- U.S. policymakers ignored the science, suppressed dissent and kept schools closed.

Joanne Jacobs
Apr 232 min read
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Chicago closed digital divide: Low achievers learned less, high achievers learned more
Closing the digital divide widened the achievement gap for Chicago students.

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 251 min read
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Covid broke public schools: Let's build a 'future-ready' system
Education's "new normal" is horrifying. Let's build a new education system out of the ashes.

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 172 min read
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McMahon's mission: What does 'send it to the states' mean?
If education is sent "to the states," will they do a better job?

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 122 min read
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How virtual learning broke a top high school's culture of excellence
Eighteen months of remote schooling broke the culture of excellence at Baltimore's City College high school.

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 101 min read
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Five years to destroy public faith in schools
Public schools' response to the pandemic has caused permanent damage.

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 103 min read
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Reading, math scores are out: 'The news is not good'
Reading scores are still falling on the "nation's report card," while math scores are the same.

Joanne Jacobs
Jan 292 min read
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Covid school closings hurt kids' learning, health and happiness -- for nothing
Reopening schools didn't increase Covid cases, hospitalizations or deaths in five countries. But kids learned more.

Joanne Jacobs
Jan 272 min read
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Biden's education legacy: Lots of spending, no new ideas
Biden's education legacy: He gave schools billions to recover from the pandemic, but didn't focus on learning.

Joanne Jacobs
Jan 202 min read
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Teens are doing less homework, earning higher grades
Teenagers are working less and earning higher grades. Everybody's "phoning it in."

Joanne Jacobs
Dec 18, 20242 min read
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Honey, we lost the parents
Democrats have lost their edge with parents of school-aged children.

Joanne Jacobs
Dec 17, 20242 min read
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U.S. math scores show 'devastating' decline
U.S. students are doing much worse in math, while some other countries are improving.

Joanne Jacobs
Dec 5, 20242 min read
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Making money matter: More kids in special ed doesn't improve reading
Schools got $190 billion in emergency funding during the epidemic, write Marguerite Roza, director of Georgetown's Edunomics Lab, and...

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 23, 20242 min read
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Tutoring is booming: Parents are paying to give their kids an edge
Many more parents are paying for in-person or online tutoring.

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 9, 20242 min read
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Covid stress hurt memory, 'flexible thinking' for kids and teachers, says study
Students -- and teachers -- lost reasoning, memory and executive-function skills during the pandemic. Stress? Long Covid? Screens?

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 21, 20241 min read
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After the pandemic, more students are diagnosed with special needs
Special education numbers are up.

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 19, 20242 min read
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Bullying, violence are up: 1 in 10 teens are afraid to go to school, says CDC
Teens aren't quite as sad or suicidal as they were in 2021, reports the CDC, but violence, bullying and school avoidance are up.

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 12, 20242 min read
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Biden's education grade: 'D' for 'doesn't care about achievement'
President Biden's education agenda deserves a D.

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 8, 20242 min read
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'Locking in' learning loss: Math grades didn't return to pre-pandemic normal
Grade inflation soared when learning went remote, writes Amber Northern. Lax requirements to turn in work, fewer graded assignments, and...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 6, 20241 min read
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