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Is technology the future of early literacy?
Speech-recognition technology could analyze young children's reading, rate their pronunciation of each sound and word, track their...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 23, 20222 min read


Following the reading science: It's not easy
If Mississippi can "follow the science" of reading, retrain teachers, provide teaching coaches and switch to effective curricula -- and...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 19, 20222 min read


Already behind, students are asked to do less
Students fell behind in reading and math when schools closed, and they're not likely to catch up if teachers don't assign challenging...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 18, 20221 min read


'Sounds first' works in Tennessee
The Knowledge Matters Campaign's new web site highlights teachers and schools that use "knowledge-building curricula" to develop...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 15, 20221 min read


It's too noisy for kids to learn
It must be 45 years ago that I visited my first classroom as a reporter. I was shocked at the change from my school days. Students got up...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 23, 20222 min read


'R' is for reading -- and race
K-2 teachers won't be switching to a new research-backed, phonics-based literacy curriculum this fall, reports Dana Goldstein in the New...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 22, 20223 min read


Tennessee rebounds: Is it tutors?
Reading scores have rebounded to pre-pandemic levels or better in Tennessee, according to a new analysis, reports Beth Hawkins on The 74....

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 12, 20221 min read


‘Proud Boys’ interrupt Pride event
Drag Queen Story Hour was starting at a Bay Area library when a group of men entered shouting homophobic and transphobic slurs, reports...

Joanne Jacobs
Jun 14, 20221 min read


No learning loss in Sweden
Photo: Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels In Sweden, which kept schools open throughout the pandemic, first- through third-graders made normal...

Joanne Jacobs
Jun 13, 20221 min read


More Michigan 3rd graders fail reading test
Third graders who are a year behind in reading are supposed to repeat the grade under Michigan’s “read by grade three” law, but few are...

Joanne Jacobs
May 31, 20222 min read


Want to be antiracist? Teach kids to read
Education Week reports that a growing number of school districts are asking would-be teachers: “What have you done personally or...

Joanne Jacobs
May 30, 20222 min read


Are reading wars over? ‘Balanced literacy’ is a loser
Teachers were trained to teach students how to guess words they couldn’t read. The reading wars are over, writes Dana Goldstein in the...

Joanne Jacobs
May 22, 20222 min read


School board loses focus on academics
Shanthi Gonzales “Schools aren’t meeting students’ needs” in Oakland, California, writes Shanthi Gonzales, who’s resigning from the...

Joanne Jacobs
May 10, 20222 min read


What’s ‘age appropriate’ for young students?
Parents and teachers want lessons to be “age appropriate,” but disagree on when children are ready for painful topics, writes Marta W....

Joanne Jacobs
May 9, 20222 min read


School librarians: Dump ‘Mockingbird,’ ‘Gatsby’ …
— Summer Reading Survey School librarians want to drop To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby and Huckleberry Finn from summer reading...

Joanne Jacobs
Apr 25, 20222 min read
“Restructuring” Public Education
This author invites a total restructuring of K-14 education: Any restructuring effort must start with getting the funding right, which...

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 17, 20202 min read
Education Reform
Forbes has an excellent “decade retrospective” on education reform and suggests where we might look for results in the next decade: Now...

Joanne Jacobs
Dec 30, 20192 min read


Dean, you didn’t prepare me to teach reading
“Schools aren’t teaching reading in ways that line up with the science,” concludes American Public Media’s Emily Hanford in Hard Words....

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 11, 20182 min read


Catching up in ‘grade 2.5’
“Like many high-poverty middle schools, Oakland’s Elmhurst Community Prep is trying to reach students who are academically all over the...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 27, 20182 min read


Michigan 3rd graders must ‘read or flunk’
Justin Jennings went to Purdue with a basketball scholarship — and third-grade reading skills, he recalls. With intensive tutoring help,...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 24, 20182 min read
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