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AI can be an equalizer
Educators can personalize teaching and equalize education opportunities, if they learn how to use artificial intelligence intelligently,...

Joanne Jacobs
May 2, 20232 min read


It's easier to become a teacher, but ...
States are dropping licensing tests to qualify more teachers, write Hannah Putnam and Heather Peske of the National Council on Teacher...

Joanne Jacobs
May 1, 20232 min read


Merit pay for teachers can work
Linking teacher pay to performance -- not just to seniority and post-college credits -- was the center of education reform in the 2010s,...

Joanne Jacobs
May 1, 20231 min read


California teachers seek 50% pay raise
Raising teacher and staff pay by 50 percent over seven years is "a big and bold idea," says the president of the California Federation of...

Joanne Jacobs
May 1, 20231 min read


'Our nation's children are all our children'
"There's no such thing as someone else's child," said President Joe Biden in honoring the new Teacher of the Year, an Oklahoma math...

Joanne Jacobs
Apr 27, 20232 min read


Knowledge isn't just for Republicans
Teaching knowledge is not just for Republicans or conservatives, writes Natalie Wexler on Minding the Gap. Anyone who values equity...

Joanne Jacobs
Apr 26, 20232 min read


Teachers who don't want to quit
Teachers at turn down higher-paying jobs to work at a Texas school that "supports professional growth, values staff input and celebrates...

Joanne Jacobs
Apr 24, 20232 min read


'Poor, pitiful me' message discourages would-be teachers
The "underpaid-teacher meme" is discouraging college students interested in teaching from pursuing the career, according to new studies...

Joanne Jacobs
Apr 24, 20232 min read


When fourth graders can't read
Third-, fourth- and fifth-grade teachers have many more students who read poorly because they missed out on decoding instruction when...

Joanne Jacobs
Apr 17, 20231 min read


Some teachers resist 'science of reading' laws
Teachers' unions are pushing back against state laws requiring early literacy instruction to be based on the "science of reading," write...

Joanne Jacobs
Apr 5, 20232 min read


Students learn more from tough graders
Students learn more when their teachers have high expectations, concludes a study in North Carolina, reports Kevin Mahnken. Algebra...

Joanne Jacobs
Apr 3, 20231 min read


'Restorative' backlash: Legislators propose tougher school discipline
Legislators are "moving to make it easier to kick disruptive students out of school" in response to "a pandemic-era surge in school gun...

Joanne Jacobs
Apr 2, 20232 min read


All children can learn -- but how much?
Not all education problems are solvable, if we just try hard enough or spend enough, argues Freddie DeBoer in a column on optimism bias. ...

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 23, 20232 min read


Conservatives shouldn't give up on public education
Public education is progressive in its goals, yet schools are conservative institutions, writes Robert Pondiscio in National Affairs....

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 22, 20231 min read


Conservative teachers are quiet
Teachers who are on the political right "speak in whispers behind closed doors," says Daniel Buck in an interview with Rick Hess....

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 22, 20232 min read


If you have to think about 3x = 18 . . .
Thinking about everything is hard, writes Greg Ashman, author of Cognitive Load Theory, on Filling the Pail. It exhausts students'...

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 21, 20232 min read


Sneering at parents isn't a great political strategy
"Seething contempt for the idea that parents should get a say in their children's education is really not a great political strategy,"...

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 15, 20232 min read


Harvard students can't handle 'The Scarlet Letter' -- but prisoners can
“The last time I taught The Scarlet Letter, I discovered that my students were really struggling to understand the sentences as sentences...

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 8, 20232 min read


1 classroom, 5 achievement levels: The learning chasm
Trying to teach students who are way above and way below grade level in the same classroom puts an impossible burden on teachers, reports...

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 7, 20232 min read


Teacher pay: U.S. chose quantity over quality
U.S. teachers would earn a lot more if schools had invested in quality rather than quantity, argues Fordham's Chester E. Finn Jr. In his...

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 3, 20231 min read
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