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Learn from Mississippi (really) how to improve learning and equity
Black fourth-graders in Mississippi, one of our poorest states, are two-and-a-half times more likely to be proficient in reading as black students in California.

Joanne Jacobs
Feb 112 min read
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To win back public-school parents, be like Mississippi
Education reforms are working in the South, and they can work in blue states too, if there's political leadership.

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 26, 20253 min read
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Where are they now? Urban public schools see steep fall in enrollment
One third of students in mostly black districts aren't enrolled in traditional public schools.

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 25, 20252 min read
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The new math has more on 'social justice,' less math
Money earned by people who were very, very good at math is being spent to promote anti-racist, justice-infused not-very-mathy math.

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 26, 20252 min read
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What does it mean to be a good man? Boys need fathers -- or male mentors
Boys growing up without a father -- and there are more of them -- have few male role models.

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 9, 20252 min read
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Get your own soapbox
After a few DEI workshops, an elementary teacher decides to teach settler colonialism, climate change, slavery and gender norms in music class.

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 8, 20252 min read
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From Juneteenth to July 4, celebrate 'reflective patriotism'
Juneteenth and July 4 celebrate American ideals and the struggle to attain them.

Joanne Jacobs
Jun 30, 20253 min read
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Proclaim oppression in every lesson: Philly students will be 'historically illiterate' social-justice activists
Philadelphia teachers are told to stress the negative in history lessons: America is the land of oppression.

Joanne Jacobs
Jun 12, 20252 min read
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'Dismantling oppression' meant destroying effective schools
"No excuses" charters were closing achievement gaps, until "equity" crusaders persuaded them to lower academic and behavioral expectations.

Joanne Jacobs
May 21, 20252 min read
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Mississippi rising: Look South for progress in reading achievement
Mississippi should be a role model for the nation in how to teach reading, along with Louisiana, Tennessee and Alabama, but old stereotypes persist.

Joanne Jacobs
May 13, 20252 min read
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How 'anti-racist' ideology hurt the students it was supposed to help
"No excuses" urban charters were closing achievement gaps, until they adopted "anti-racist" and "social justice" ideology, argues a charter founder fired for backing high expectations.

Joanne Jacobs
May 4, 20252 min read
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Single cat ladies vs. tradwives: Is motherhood right wing?
Baby-making is now seen as right-wing, and possibly racist.

Joanne Jacobs
Apr 27, 20253 min read
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Asian-American computer whiz sues UC for admissions bias
The University of California is being sued by Asian-American achievers who charge racial discrimination in admissions.

Joanne Jacobs
Feb 23, 20251 min read
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Schools' gender, DEI policies pushed parents to the right
Parents have moved to the right, fed up by transgender and DEI policies.

Joanne Jacobs
Feb 8, 20252 min read
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DEI's done: Let's see what a colorblind America looks like
Donald Trump's executive order ending racial preferences will have far-reaching effects.

Joanne Jacobs
Jan 24, 20253 min read
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How 'woke' are schools?
U.S. students are exposed to anti-racist messages, but most say their teachers welcome diverse viewpoints.

Joanne Jacobs
Jan 22, 20252 min read
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A black professor leaves academia: 'Critical thinking became critical feeling'
Erec Smith, formerly a professor of rhetoric and composition, got tired of colleagues calling him "inauthentically Black" because he...

Joanne Jacobs
Nov 26, 20241 min read
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Who's truly disadvantaged? Look at single parenting, not race or poverty
Growing up in a single-parent family is a huge disadvantage in life, writes Fordham's Michael Petrilli in Forbes. If racial preferences...

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 25, 20242 min read
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Judge: 1st-graders' free-speech rights don't matter
After a lesson on Martin Luther King Jr. at a southern California elementary school, a seven -year-old white girl drew a picture with...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 20, 20242 min read
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Always mediocre, teacher prep is now politicized too
Future elementary teachers get a lot of training in "equity pedagogy" at the University of Florida, writes Scott Yenor in City Journal....

Joanne Jacobs
Jun 19, 20242 min read
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