top of page
Didn’t Someone Once Write A Book…
…about getting Hispanic students into college, and supporting them while they’re there? USA Today reports: Pushed by their parents and...

Joanne Jacobs
Jan 10, 20201 min read
A More Inclusive Literature Curriculum?
Canon, that which transfers our cultural heritage to the next generation, is out. Giving everyone’s feelings a voice is in: Most English...

Joanne Jacobs
Jan 7, 20202 min read
The School Environment
If it’s a secret to the rest of the world, it’s not a secret to America’s teachers–school discipline is getting worse and worse. In...

Joanne Jacobs
Dec 31, 20191 min read


Distant cousins
Harvard once touted Elizabeth Warren as its first “woman of color” on the law faculty. A DNA test now reveals that one of the senator’s...

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 17, 20181 min read


Harvard denies anti-Asian bias
Harvard’s admissions process is on trial, charged with bias against Asian-American students, reports Anemona Hartocollis in the New York...

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 16, 20182 min read
‘Unlikely’ to graduate
Unlikely, a new documentary about the college dropout crisis, spotlights five students in Akron, Atlanta, Boston and Los Angeles who are...

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 7, 20181 min read
Integrating by choice in San Antonio
San Antonio is using school choice to integrate its schools — and to raise test scores, report Beth Hawkins on The 74. San Antonio’s...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 30, 20182 min read
Would UCLA hire Einstein?
Would UCLA hire Albert Einstein as a professor? asks Heather Mac Donald in the Los Angeles Times. Starting this fall, all faculty...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 15, 20181 min read


Magnet schools turn away blacks, Latinos
Magnet schools in Hartford, Connecticut are turning away black and brown students in the name of integration, reports Erika Sanzi on Good...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 10, 20181 min read
A not-so-integrated high school
America to Me, now on Starz, explores a suburban Chicago high school where black and white students “find themselves on different tracks,...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 1, 20181 min read


California eyes ethnic studies requirement
Ethnic studies will not be a graduation requirement — yet – -in California, reports Elizabeth Castillo on CALMatters. Citing the...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 22, 20182 min read


End the craziness with college lottery
Stanford offered admission to 2,040 of the 47,450 students who applied in 2018: That’s 4.3 percent, a new low. Most of the 45,410 who...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 16, 20182 min read


Harvard discriminates against introverts
Harvard discriminates against introverts, argues Jonathan Zimmerman, a professor of education and history at Penn, in the Washington...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 15, 20182 min read


Instead of ‘gifted and talented’ …
It’s time to drop the “gifted and talented” label and use personalized, mastery learning to challenge all students, argues Michael Horn....

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 14, 20182 min read


Cutting suspensions doesn’t close ‘discipline gap’
California’s out-of-school suspension rate is way down, but the “discipline gap” remains, reports Mario Koran on The 74. Black students...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 13, 20182 min read


‘Right to read’ fight shifts to California
The right to an education doesn’t include a right to literacy — yet. However, “a judge has ruled that California can be put on trial for...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 31, 20183 min read


Show me the test scores
You want my kids to go to your schools? Show me they’re learning, writes Citizen Stewart in a defense of test-based accountability....

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 30, 20182 min read


Kids made honor roll, but aren’t at grade level
“It’s no use if my kids are on the school’s honor roll if they are not proficient in reading and math,” a mother tells LA School Report’s...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 12, 20182 min read


None dare call it tracking
Well, it looks like tracking to me. And I’m fine with it. Jonathan Plucker, a Johns Hopkins education professor, sees “a subtle shift” in...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 9, 20182 min read


It’s all hate speech now
The Declaration of Independence includes hate speech, according to Facebook’s algorithm. Christian Britschgi explains on Reason‘s blog....

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 4, 20182 min read
bottom of page